Antimony-based bismuth-doped thin film, a new kind of super-resolution mask layer, is prepared by magnetron sputtering. The structures and optical constants of the thin films before and after annealing axe examined in detail. The as-deposited film is mainly in an amorphous state. After annealing at 170- 370 ℃, it is converted to the rhombohedral-type of structure. The extent of crystallization increased with the annealing temperature. When the thin film is annealed, its refractive index decreased in the most visible region, whereas the extinction coefficient and reflectivity are markedly increased. The results indicate that the optical parameters of the film strongly depend on its microstructure and the bonding of the atoms.
Sb is a classic material of a super-resolution near field structure （super-RENS） mask layer in which the optical switch formation is often realized by nanosecond laser pulse stimulation. We achieve fast and repeatable optical switching driven by picosecond laser pulses in a proper fluence range on Sb thin films. The optical properties of Sb thin films before and after switching are studied by surface-sensitive micro-area ellipsometry. The change of optical constants after switching is less than 2% in the whole visible range. The Sb mask layer is shown to be very promising for ultrafast super-resolution optical storage applications.
