Temperature stability of thin-film narrow-bandpass filters produced by ion-assisted deposition

Four types of single-cavity, thin-film, narrow-bandpass filter whose full width at half-maximum ranges from 0.5 to 1.1 nm are produced by ion-assisted deposition of alternating TiO(2)/SiO(2) or Ta(2)O(5)/SiO(2) layers upon eight substrates having differing coefficients of linear expansion, and the temperature stability of their center wavelengths is examined in the 1540-nm wavelength region. The temperature stability is shown to be greatly dependent on the coefficient of linear expansion of the substrate upon which the filter is deposited. For the eight substrates whose coefficients of linear expansion range from 0 to 142 × 10(-7)/°C, the temperature stability of the filters ranges from +0.018 to -0.005 nm/°C. Calculations based on a newly developed elastic strain model reveal that the main reason temperature stability of the center wavelengths exhibits substrate dependency is due to a reduction in film packing density brought about by volumetric distortion of the film, which is caused by stress induced from the substrate.