Development of a statistical method to help evaluating the transparency/opacity of decorative thin films

• Published in: Applied surface science Vol. 438; pp. 51 - 58
• Main Authors: da Silva Oliveira, C.I., Martinez-Martinez, D., Al-Rjoub, A., Rebouta, L., Menezes, R., Cunha, L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 30.04.2018
• Subjects: Color; Optical properties; Statistical method; Zirconium oxynitride films; Statistical method; Zirconium oxynitride films; Optical properties; Color
• ISSN: 0169-4332; 1873-5584
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apsusc.2017.10.017

[Display omitted] •A novel method helps to determine the degree of opacity/transparency of thin films.•The statistical method analyses data of films deposited on different substrates.•The method is validated by comparing with results obtained by optical spectroscopy.•The results are in agreement with the results of optical spectroscopy. In this paper, we present a statistical method that allows evaluating the degree of a transparency of a thin film. To do so, the color coordinates are measured on different substrates, and the standard deviation is evaluated. In case of low values, the color depends on the film and not on the substrate, and intrinsic colors are obtained. In contrast, transparent films lead to high values of standard deviation, since the value of the color coordinates depends on the substrate. Between both extremes, colored films with a certain degree of transparency can be found. This method allows an objective and simple evaluation of the transparency of any film, improving the subjective visual inspection and avoiding the thickness problems related to optical spectroscopy evaluation. Zirconium oxynitride films deposited on three different substrates (Si, steel and glass) are used for testing the validity of this method, whose results have been validated with optical spectroscopy, and agree with the visual impression of the samples.