Designs and investigations of anti-glare blue-tint side-view car mirrors

Recent developments for luxury car industries have been in favor of anti-glare color-tint side-view exterior car mirrors. In this study, we explore the designs, the fabrications, and the investigations of anti-glare blue-tint samples suitable for the side-view car mirrors. With an aid of the thin film design software, the TiO₂-based backside-coated optical systems are prepared by the homemade and the retailed sputtering systems, and examined for the reflection spectra and the chromaticity diagrams. From four major designs of the anti-glare blue-tint mirrors, the ultra-thin metallic layer and the dielectric stack with the bottommost reflective layer offer the blue-tint at 85% highest reflection. Although the design requires only 40 min of the deposition time, the careful control of the ultra-thin metallic film thickness is crucial.     

Structural, optical and hydrophilic properties of nanocrystalline TiO2 ultra-thin films prepared by pulsed dc reactive magnetron sputtering

TiO₂ ultra-thin (15 nm) films were deposited on silicon wafers (100) and glass slides by pulsed dc reactive magnetron sputtering in an ultra-high vacuum (UHV) system. The effects of substrate temperature, from room temperature to 400 °C, on structural, optical, and hydrophilic properties of the obtained films have been investigated. The structure of the films was characterized by grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy. The optical properties were determined by UV-vis spectrophotometer and spectroscopic ellipsometry. The hydrophilic properties of the films, after exposed to ultraviolet illumination, were analyzed from contact angle measurements. The results suggested that the substrate temperature at 300 °C was critical in the crystalline phase transformation from amorphous to anatase in the TiO₂ films. The obtained films exhibited good qualities in the optical properties, in addition to excellent photo-induced hydrophilic activities.     

Silver nanoparticles deposited on anodic aluminum oxide template using magnetron sputtering for surface-enhanced Raman scattering substrate

Low-cost and highly sensitive surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates have been fabricated by a simple anodizing process and a magnetron sputtering deposition. The substrates, which consist of silver nanoparticles embedded on anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) templates, are investigated by a scanning electron microscope and a confocal Raman spectroscopy. The SERS activities are demonstrated by Raman scattering from adsorbed solutions of methylene blue and pyridine on the SERS substrate surface. The most optimized SERS substrate contains the silver nanoparticles, with a size distribution of 10-30 nm, deposited on the AAO template. From a calculation, the SERS enhancement factor is as high as 8.5 × 10⁷, which suggests strong potentials for direct applications in the chemical detection and analyses.