Texture evolution and infrared optical properties of praseodymium fluoride films

Praseodymium fluoride (PrF3) thin films were deposited on Ge(1 1 1) and zinc selenide substrates by molybdenum boat evaporation method. The crystal structures of thin film were characterized using XRD technique and the texture coefficients were calculated. The texture of praseodymium fluoride films changes from (3 0 2) to (1 1 0) texture when the temperature increases from 100 °C to 250 °C. Drastic tensile stress makes all the films covered by a network of fine cracks with width of nanometer-scale. The infrared transmission spectrum was measured to investigate the optical properties for all the films. The optical constants of praseodymium fluoride film were determined by using Lorentz oscillator model in the range from 8000 cm−1 to 500 cm−1.