Transition-metal-nitride films for optical applications

The three transition metal nitrides TiN, ZrN and HfN have remarkably high stability due to their bonding: a mixture of covalent and ionic contributions. The optical properties of these nitride compounds are free-electron like to a surprisingly large extent, in particular in comparison with the corresponding carbides. It is argued that the interband optical excitations of the d-electrons are restricted by selection rules, resulting in a Drude like behavior of these d-electron compounds. Hitherto, one of the main optical applications has been as opaque, wear-resistant replacements for gold-coatings. This review includes the efforts to study, understand and enhance the optical selectivity of group IVB transition metal nitrides as the selective surface in high temperature thermal solar absorbers, as the metal layer in LE-coatings on energy-efficient or solar control windows and as a Langmuir probe coating. The reflectance edge is not in the optimum position for absorber applications and attempts to shift it with alloying were unsuccessful. Recent development of inhomogeneous, cermet- type nitrides hold some promise. The LE-coatings will not reach as high selectivity as the current noble metal based multilayers, but many find use in aggressive environments because of their excellent stability.

[1]  C G Ribbing,et al.  Optical Properties Of Noble Metal Like Films , 1986, Other Conferences.

[2]  J. Sundgren,et al.  A review of the present state of art in hard coatings grown from the vapor phase , 1986 .

[3]  B. O. Seraphin,et al.  Optical properties of CVD-coated TiN, ZrN and HfN , 1982 .

[4]  Erik M. J. Johansson,et al.  Improved Langmuir probe surface coatings for the Cassini satellite , 1992 .

[5]  D. Gross,et al.  Antisolar and thermally insulating thin films for simple glazings , 1981 .

[6]  Arne Roos,et al.  The influence of preparation conditions on the optical properties of titanium nitride based solar control films , 1991 .

[7]  Maria Strømme,et al.  Optical constants of sputtered hafnium nitride films. Intra- and interband contributions , 1995 .

[8]  A. B. Meinel,et al.  Photothermal solar energy conversion and the optical properties of solids , 1993 .

[9]  Wolfgang Graf,et al.  Effects of roughness on TiNxOy-Cu selective absorbers , 1992, Other Conferences.

[10]  Björn Karlsson,et al.  Optical constants and spectral selectivity of titanium carbonitrides , 1982 .

[11]  Ronald P. Howson,et al.  Design and use of a vacuum system for high rate reactive sputtering of TiO2/TiN/TiO2 solar control films , 1988 .

[12]  Kent E. Andersson,et al.  Optical characterization of sputtered semitransparent zirconium nitride films , 1993 .

[13]  Kent E. Andersson,et al.  Zirconium nitride based transparent heat mirror coatings —preparation and characterisation , 1994 .

[14]  Björn Karlsson,et al.  Optical properties of solids for solar energy conversion , 1981 .

[15]  H. Hoffmann,et al.  Optical Properties and Dynamic Current Density for Polycrystalline Metallic Films , 1986 .

[16]  L. Roux,et al.  The optical properties of titanium nitrides and carbides: Spectral selectivity and photothermal conversion of solar energy , 1982 .

[17]  Björn Karlsson,et al.  Optical Properties Of Transparent Heat Mirrors Based On Thin Films Of TiN, ZrN, And HfN , 1982, Photonics West - Lasers and Applications in Science and Engineering.

[18]  D. Pailharey,et al.  Reactively Sputtered Zirconium Carbides, Carbonitrides And Nitrides Thin Films - Optical Properties , 1985, Optics & Photonics.

[19]  C. Granqvist,et al.  Materials science for solar energy conversion systems , 1991 .

[20]  A. Switendick,et al.  Electronic Band Structure of TiC, TiN, and TiO , 1965 .

[21]  Adolf Neckel,et al.  Calculation of the imaginary part ϵ2( ω) of the dielectric function for TiN and ZrN , 1983 .

[22]  K. H. Jolliffee.  Optical properties of thin solid films , 1954 .

[23]  Jon G. McGowan,et al.  Applied Solar Energy: An Introduction , 1998 .

[24]  G. Niklasson,et al.  Surfaces for selective absorption of solar energy: an annotated bibliography 1955–1981 , 1983 .

[25]  B. Zega,et al.  Hard decorative TiN coatings by ion plating , 1977 .

[26]  Peter Weinberger,et al.  Results of self-consistent band-structure calculations for ScN, ScO, TiC, TiN, TiO, VC, VN and VO , 1975 .

[27]  R. W. Christy,et al.  Optical constants of transition metals: Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, and Pd , 1974 .

[28]  P. Glaser,et al.  Applied Solar Energy: An Introduction , 1977 .

[29]  Kent E. Andersson,et al.  High stability titanium nitride based solar control films , 1992 .

[30]  C. Ribbing,et al.  Optical constants and Drude analysis of sputtered zirconium nitride films. , 1994, Applied optics.