Abstract:
An optical waveguide including a core having silica, Al, a non-fluorescent rare-earth ion, Ge, Er, and Tm. The non-fluorescent rare-earth ion may be La. Exemplary compositions concentrations are Er is from 15 ppm to 3000 ppm, Al is from 0.5 mol % to 12 mol %, La is less than or equal to 2 mol %, Tm is from 15 ppm to 10,000 ppm; and the Ge is less than or equal to 15 mol %. The core may further include F. An exemplary concentration of F is less than or equal to 6 anion mol %.
Abstract:
High purity silicon oxyfluoride glass suitable for use as a photomask substrates for photolithography applications in the VUV wavelength region below 190 nm is disclosed. The inventive silicon oxyfluoride glass is transmissive at wavelengths around 157 nm, making it particularly useful as a photomask substrate at the 157 nm wavelength region. The inventive photomask substrate is a “dry,” silicon oxyfluoride glass which contains doped O2 molecules and which exhibits very high transmittance and laser transmission durability in the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) wavelength region. In addition to containing fluorine and having little or no OH content, the inventive silicon oxyfluoride glass suitable for use as a photomask substrate at 157 nm contains intersticial O2 molecules which provide improved endurance to laser exposure. Preferably the O2 doped silicon oxyfluoride glass is characterized by having less than 1×1017 molecules/cm3 of molecular hydrogen and low chlorine levels.
Abstract:
A non-porous, transparent glass-ceramic body that is consolidated from a predominately silica-based preform (SiO2+GeO2 85-99.0 wt. %) containing rare earth fluoride crystals embedded within by solution chemistry. The glass ceramic body is suited for making fibers for optical amplifiers.
Abstract:
A nonlinear optical silica material mainly consisting of SiO2—GeO2 to which hydrogen or halogen element X is added. Oxygen bonded to Ge contained in the nonlinear optical silica material is replaced by H or X, and one Ge has two Ge—O bonds and one Ge—H (or Ge—X) bond at Ge· points where nonlinearity is exhibited in the silica material. The Ge—H (or Ge—X) bond does not relate to a crystal network, so that when the polarity is oriented in order to exhibit nonlinearity at Ge·, an electric field to be applied can be lowered, and when a optical semiconductor hybrid element or the like is produced, other portions of the semiconductor elements can be prevented from being broken or degraded in performance. An insulating film can be interposed between the semiconductor substrate and the nonlinear optical silica film to prevent undesired impurities from dispersing into the semiconductor substrate and other elements and preventing a defect from being caused in the crystal of the substrate due to the silica film.
Abstract:
The invention includes methods of making lithography photomask blanks. The invention also includes lithography photomask blanks and preforms for producing lithography photomask. The method of making a lithography photomask blank includes providing a soot deposition surface, producing SiO2 soot particles and projecting the SiO2 soot particles toward the soot deposition surface. The method includes successively depositing layers of the SiO2 soot particle on the deposition surface to form a coherent SiO2 porous glass preform body comprised of successive layers of the SiO2 soot particles and dehydrating the coherent SiO2 glass preform body to remove OH from the preform body. The SiO2 is exposed to and reacted with a fluorine containing compound and consolidated into a nonporous silicon oxyfluoride glass body with parallel layers of striae. The method further includes forming the consolidated silicon oxyfluoride glass body into a photomask blank having a planar surface with the orientation of the striae layer parallel to the photomask blank planar surface.
Abstract:
A method for controlling the refractive index achieved using a fluorine dopant gas, wherein CF4 is employed as the dopant gas, and the soot preform is doped using the CF4 for a time and temperature sufficient to result in a decrease in fluorine dopant nearest the surface which is in contact with the CF4 gas.
Abstract:
The invention relates to fluorine-containing silica glasses, and methods of their production. The silica glass may be used for an ultraviolet light optical system in which light in a wavelength region of 200 nm or less, such as an ArF (193 nm) excimer laser, is used. The invention also relates to a projection exposure apparatus containing fluorine-containing glass of the invention.
Abstract:
An improvement in a method for producing a synthetic hydroxyl ion-free quartz glass wherein a hydrogen free silicon compound is heated in a hydrogen-free gas stream while the gas stream is passed through an induction coupled plasma burner, the gas stream containing elemental and/or bound oxygen and the oxidation product is deposited on a refractory support as a vitreous mass, the improvement lying in including in the gas stream a gaseous hydrogen-free, thermally decomposable compound which yields fluorine in an amount of at least 500 gms. per kilogram of silica to be produced; an apparatus for producing a synthetic OH ion-free quartz glass comprising an induction coupled plasma burner which burner has disposed thereabout 3 concentric quartz glass tubes disposed in stepped configuration of which the outermost tube is the longest and the innermost tube is the shortest. The apparatus includes means for passing through the innermost tube a hydrogen-free gas stream containing elemental oxygen and/or bound oxygen together with a gaseous hydrogen free thermally decomposable compound which yields fluorine. The apparatus further contains means for passing a separating gas such as oxygen through the space defined by the innermost tube and the middle tube and the middle tube and the outermost tube.
Abstract:
An optical fiber with large effective area, low bending loss and low attenuation. The optical fiber includes a core, an inner cladding region, and an outer cladding region. The core region includes a spatially uniform updopant to minimize low Rayleigh scattering and a relative refractive index and radius configured to provide large effective area. The inner cladding region features a large trench volume to minimize bending loss. The core may be doped with Cl and the inner cladding region may be doped with F.
Abstract:
A doped silica-titania glass article is provided that includes a glass article having a glass composition comprising (i) a silica-titania base glass, (ii) a fluorine dopant, and (iii) a second dopant. The fluorine dopant has a concentration of fluorine of up to 5 wt. % and the second dopant comprises one or more oxides selected from the group consisting of Al, Nb, Ta, B, Na, K, Mg, Ca and Li oxides at a total oxide concentration from 50 ppm to 6 wt.%. Further, the glass article has an expansivity slope of less than 0.5 ppb/K2 at 20⃘C. The second dopant can be optional. The composition of the glass article may also contain an OH concentration of less than 100 ppm.