Optical films and methods of making the same
View Patent ↗Films for optical use, articles containing such films, methods for making such films, and systems that utilize such films, are disclosed.
1. A method, comprising:
providing an article that includes a layer comprising a plurality of rows of a metal where each adjacent row of metal is separated by a trench having a depth of about 100 nm or more, the rows of the metal forming a grating having a period of 1,000 nm or less, the layer being a wire grid polarizer for radiation having a wavelength in a range from about 150 nm to about 2,000 nm;
filling at least about 80% of a volume of each trench with a second material different from the metal by sequentially forming a plurality of monolayers of the second material within the trenches, wherein:
forming the plurality of monolayers of the second material comprises depositing a monolayer of a precursor and exposing the monolayer of the precursor to a reagent to provide a monolayer of the second material; and
the second material is an inorganic dielectric material.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the metal is selected from the group consisting of Al, Au, Ag, and Cu.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least about 99% of the volume of the trenches are filled by sequentially forming the plurality of monolayers within the trenches.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the layer of the metal and the second material form a continuous layer.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second material is SiO 2 .