Effect of porosity on thickness uniformity of MgF2 films on spherical substrates

Simulation based on Knudsen's law shows that film thickness uniformity above 99% can be realized on spherical substrates with optimized profiles of shadowing masks. However, a type of optical thickness nonuniformity is revealed when the masks are applied for thickness correction of MgF2 films experimentally. The optical thickness nonuniformity depends on steepness of the spherical surfaces and reaches 5% approximately for surfaces with CA/RoC = 1.22. Porosity of the MgF2 film is superimposed on Knudsen's law to interpret the optical thickness nonuniformity. For theoretical simulation, the influence of porosity on optical thickness distribution is characterized by a new parameter that describes nonlinear dependence of deposition rate on cosine function of molecular injection angles in Knudsen's law. Utilizing the optimized deposition model, optical thickness uniformity of MgF2 films approaching to or above 99% has been achieved for surfaces of different steepness in a single coating run. (C) 2022 Optica Publishing Group under the terms of the Optica Open Access Publishing Agreement