Nanostructured optical thin films fabricated by oblique angle deposition

K M A Sobahan, Yong Jun Park, Jin Joo Kim, You Suk Shin, Ji Bum Kim and Chang Kwon Hwangbo

Abstract

Oblique angle deposition (OAD) is a sophisticated technique to fabricate engineered nanostructured thin films for next generation optical nanodevices. In this technique, oblique angle deposition and substrate rotation are employed to control the columnar and helical nanostructures of thin films. The films deposited by this technique show the optical anisotropy, the porosity, or the chirality, depending on the controlled morphologies at the nano-scale. In this review paper, the nanostructured optical thin film devices, such as a circular polarization handedness inverter, a linear polarization-discriminatory inverter and the selective coatings on nanopatterns, are fabricated by electron beam evaporation using the OAD technique, and their optical and structural properties as nanooptical devices are described