Advances in plasma-based atomic layer processing of AlF3 for the passivation of broadband aluminum mirrors

Efficient and uniform Aluminum-based broadband mirrors are essential components for far-ultraviolet (FUV) astronomy. Plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD) is a low temperature, highly conformal coating process that has previously been demonstrated to produce high quality AlF₃ films, although little has been reported on their performance in FUV applications. An ongoing collaboration between the US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) focuses on optimizing material properties of PEALD AlF₃ coatings on Al mirrors to enhance FUV optical performance. PEALD AlF₃ films were deposited using trimethylaluminum and SF₆ plasma precursors in a modified Veeco Fiji G2 reactor. ALD growth windows (the range of process parameters resulting in ideal growth) were established using an in situ ellipsometer to monitor the fluoride growth rate directly on Al substrates and supplemented with post-deposition x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to elucidate process-structure property relationships. Optimal AlF₃ films had a growth rate of 0.75-0.8Å/cycle, F/Al ratio of ≈3, < 2 at% O, indicating that PEALD is a beneficial process technique towards achieving optical coatings on a variety of potential mirror materials. The influence of PEALD parameters on the FUV optical performance of Al mirrors overcoated with PEALD-AlF₃ will be also discussed.