Growth and characterisation of birefringent films on textured silicon substrates

The effects of textured substrates on the serial bi-deposition (SBD) technique of thin film growth have been investigated. Obliquely deposited coatings exhibit optical anisotropy as a consequence of the internal nanostructure developed during self-shadowed growth, which should be enhanced by growth onto textured substrates. We examine the growth and some subsequent optical properties of SBD coatings deposited obliquely onto lithographically-defined fine line and dot arrays with periods as small as 100 nm. Reflection retardance optical measurements show clear differences over a range of wavelengths for the structures in the patterned areas.