Analysis of Glasses Coated with Zn-Cr-Sn-O Thin Films by Picosecond Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy and Transmission Spectroscopy

Abstract

Glasses coated with different thin film layers exhibit different optical properties. Thus, ZnO thin films with Sn and Cr admixture (ZCTO) were deposited on the glass substrate surface by radio frequency magnetron sputtering. Picosecond laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (ps-LIBS) was applied to achieve the rapid analysis of the doping elements in the ZCTO thin film. In addition, the transmittance spectra of the glasses coated with ZCTO thin films deposited at different sputtering times were recorded with the UV-VISNIR spectrophotometer. A red shift of 45±2 nm was observed in the absorption edge of the transmittance curve (UV wave band from 330 to 400 nm), which was highlighted with increase in the sputtering time. Moreover, the optical band gaps of ZCTO thin films were determined, which overall were larger than those of ZnO thin films only. Lastly, the relationships between the LIBS analysis and the optical properties of the glass samples were established. As revealed from the results, ps-LIBS can control or assist in the fabrication of high performance ZCTO thin films employed for glass production.