Optical and morphological characterization of nanostructured AgO thin films

Silver Oxide (AgO) thin films were prepared by using a cylindrical direct current reactive magnetron sputtering system at ۱۰-۵ torr initial pressure on BK۷ glass substrate. Samples deposited for ۳, ۵ and ۷ minutes. Surface characterization of AgO thin films in the nanometer scale can be accurately determined using the atomic force microscopy (AFM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The average roughness (Ravg), maximum peak to valley height (Rt) and root mean square (Rrms) roughness are used to analyze the surface morphology of AgO films. The linear optical absorption data were measured in the visible-near infrared spectral regions and the nonlinear refractive index (n۲) of thin films is evaluated by the moiré deflectometery technique. The investigation indicates that, increase in AgO thickness leads to reduction in nonlinear refractive index.