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A Study of the Surface Texture of Polycrystalline Phosphor Films Using Atomic Force Microscopy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2011

R. Revay,
J. Schneir,
D. Brower,
J. Villarrubia,
J. Fu,
J. Cline,
T. J. Hsieh and
W. Wong-Ng
R. Revay
Affiliation:
Optex Communications Corporation, Rockville, MD 20850
J. Schneir
Affiliation:
Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899
D. Brower
Affiliation:
Optex Communications Corporation, Rockville, MD 20850
J. Villarrubia
Affiliation:
Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899
J. Fu
Affiliation:
Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899
J. Cline
Affiliation:
Material Science and Engineering Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899
T. J. Hsieh
Affiliation:
Optex Communications Corporation, Rockville, MD 20850
W. Wong-Ng
Affiliation:
Material Science and Engineering Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899
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Abstract

Stimulable phosphor thin films are being investigated for use as optical data storage media. We have successfully applied atomic force microscopy (AFM) to the measurement of the surface texture of these films. Determination of the surface texture of the films is important for evaluating the effect of surface quality on optical scatter. In other thin film material systems it has been found that the surface “bumps” revealed by AFM correspond to grains in the film. This is not the case for the stimulable phosphor films used in our study. We have determined the grain size of our phosphor films by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and x-ray diffraction (XRD). The grain size from TEM and XRD does not correlate with the size of the AFM surface “bumps.” For example, in two of the five films studied, the XRD derived grain size varies by a factor of two but the size of the surface “bumps” remains the same. We conclude that the texture of the film surface is not directly determined by the grain size of the phosphor material.

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References

REFERENCES

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