Thermally stable amorphous tantalum yttrium oxide with low IR absorption for magnetophotonic devices

Thin film oxide materials often require thermal treatment at high temperature during their preparation, which can limit them from being integrated in a range of microelectronic or optical devices and applications. For instance, it has been a challenge to retain the optical properties of Bragg mirrors in optical systems at temperatures above 700 °C because of changes in the crystalline structure of the high–refractive-index component. In this study, a ~100 nm–thick amorphous film of tantalum oxide and yttrium oxide with an yttrium-to-tantalum atomic fraction of 14% was prepared by magnetron sputtering. The film demonstrated high resistance to annealing above 850 °C without degradation of its optical properties. The electronic and crystalline structures, stoichiometry, optical properties, and integration with magnetooptical materials are discussed. The film was incorporated into Bragg mirrors used with iron garnet microcavities, and it contributed to an order-of-magnitude enhancement of the magnetooptical figure of merit at near-infrared wavelengths.