US 12,116,662 B2
Method for growing crystalline optical films on Si substrates which may optionally have an extremely small optical loss in the infra-red spectrum with hydrogenation of the crystalline optical films
Kyung-Ah Son, Moorpark, CA (US); Jeong-Sun Moon, Moorpark, CA (US); Hwa Chang Seo, Malibu, CA (US); Richard M. Kremer, Ramona, CA (US); Ryan G. Quarfoth, Malibu, CA (US); Jack A. Crowell, Malibu, CA (US); Mariano J. Taboada, Malibu, CA (US); Joshua M. Doria, Malibu, CA (US); and Terry B. Welch, Malibu, CA (US)
Assigned to HRL LABORATORIES, LLC, Malibu, CA (US)
Filed by HRL Laboratories, LLC, Malibu, CA (US)
Filed on Aug. 18, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/890,913.
Application 17/890,913 is a division of application No. 17/206,927, filed on Mar. 19, 2021, granted, now 11,788,183.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/027,849, filed on May 20, 2020.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/027,847, filed on May 20, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2022/0389561 A1, Dec. 8, 2022
Int. Cl. C23C 14/08 (2006.01); C23C 14/35 (2006.01)
CPC C23C 14/08 (2013.01) [C23C 14/35 (2013.01)] 16 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A process for growing IR-transparent Phase-Change Correlated Transition Metal Oxide (PCMO) optical films on substrates, with an optical extinction coefficient k<0.001 over an infrared range of wavelengths, the process including:
pre-cleaning a substrate in a substantially oxygen-free gas environment at room temperature;
depositing a PCMO material on the pre-cleaned substrate in the substantially oxygen-free gas environment at an elevated temperature to thereby form a PCMO deposited substrate;
cooling the PCMO deposited substrate to a lower temperature in the substantially oxygen-free gas environment, the lower temperature being at least 300° C. lower than said elevated temperature; and
annealing the PCMO deposited substrate in a hydrogen environment for hydrogenation of the PCMO material at an annealing temperature less than said elevated temperature but greater than said lower temperature without presence of a catalytic transition material.