Journal of the Korean Physical Society, Vol. 32, No. 5, May 1998, pp.

676680

Design of Multilayer Antireflection Coatings

S. I. Park and Y. J. Lee
Department of Physics, Dankook University, Cheonan 330-714
(Received 12 July 1997)
Multilayer antireflection filters were designed for a wide spectral range by using a computational
direct-search method for the synthesis of thin films. Improved antireflection coatings with simple
multilayer structures could be achieved by a method of iterating both the refractive index and the
optical thickness of each layer with a statistical probability. The resultant performance depended
on the starting multilayer structure, and the designed antireflection filter had remarkably excellent
performance over a prescribed wavelength region.

I. INTRODUCTION

and the optical thicknesses of all the layers. The refractive index and the optical thickness of each layer are iterated, in turn, to minimize a specified merit function.
This method sometimes reaches local minima which are
far from the desired goal. Therefore, one should use a
statistical testing method to escape from such local minima and approach the global or desired minimum with a
certain probability.
The number of independent variables of the merit function is twice the number of layers, both the refractive index and the optical thickness for each layer being taken
into account. Therefore, in designing an AR filter, we
seek a position which corresponds to a global minimum
or a desired local minimum of the merit function in 2kdimensional space, where k is the number of layers. If
the merit functions second derivatives are much larger
in magnitude in some directions of 2k-dimensional space
than in others, many cycles are required to get a minimum by reaching convergence in the numerical iterations,
where a cycle means searching all the layers once. Fortunately, however, we found that this is not the case, so
convergence is usually reached in several cycles in the
design procedure, as will be shown in the examples.

Antireflection (AR) coatings for the visible and the

infrared regions have long been the subject of much
research and development [19] because they are very
important and useful in the optical industry. Since
gradient-index layers were demonstrated as antireflection
coatings [6], a number of papers have been published
dealing with the subject of how to design gradient-index
antireflection filters, and techniqes have been reported
for producing gradient-index layers [6,1013]. Southwell
[14] has shown that the profile of a gradient-index layer
can be used to significantly improve the performance of
broadband antireflection coatings.
Although it is possible in principle to continuously
vary the refractive index of a growing gradient-index
layer by the codeposition of one high-index material and
one low-index material, it is very difficult to accurately
monitor the refracive index when it is being vacuum deposited inside a working chamber. It is known that for
a gradient-index filter there is a structure consisting of
very thin homogeneous layers of high- and low-index layers (two materials only) such that the structure is equivalent to the filter at all wavelengths [15,16]. Such a twoindex solution looks very practical. However, it is still
difficult to monitor the thicknesses of many thin layers
which are much shorter than the wavelength.

II. NUMERICAL DESIGN

Characteristic matrices are usually used to calculate
the reflectance of an assembly of thin-film layers. The
characteristic matrix at a wavelength for the assembly
of k layers is given by

In order to avoid the difficulties, we intend to present

an iterative computational process for the numerical design of AR-filters with a fixed number of layers through
the direct-search method. In the numerical design, one
can quasi-continuously vary both the refractive indices

M = M1 M2 Mk
where the characteristic matrix of the jth layer is
!
sin
cos j i nj j
Mj =
inj sin j cos j

E-mail address: yjlee@anseo.dankook.ac.kr

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(1)

(2)

Design of Multilayer Antireflection Coatings S. I. Park and Y. J. Lee

Fig. 1. The spectral reflectance of an antireflection coating consisting of five layers whose structure was designed
by numerical search methods with the starting structure
A(4L)(4H)(4L)(4H)(4L)S.

where nj is the refractive index of the layer and j is its

phase thickness given by
j =

2ni dj

(3)

with the physical thickness of the layer being dj . If the

calculated characteristic matrix M of the assembly is


m11 m12
M=
,
(4)
m21 m22
then the reflection coefficient r and the reflectance R are,
respectively, given by
r=

n0 Y
,
n0 + Y

R = r r

(5)

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Fig. 3. The spectral reflectance and the structure of the

five-layer AR filter that was designed with the starting structure A(2L)(4H)(2L)(4H)(2L)S.

is the refractive index of the substrate ns . Here, the

reflection coefficient r is the ratio of the reflected and incident amplitudes of electric fields whose sign convention
follows references [17] and [18].
The objective of the numerical design technique is to
find the refractive indices ni and the optical thicknesses
xi of all the AR-coating layers, i signifying a layer. In
the designs, the merit function f is given by
f (x1 , n1 , x2 , n2 , , xk , nk )
(8)
Z b


0 2

0
e
=
R2 (x1 , n1 , x2 , n2 , , xk , nk , )d
a

where R(x1 , n1 , x2 , n2 , , xk , nk , ) is the reflectance at

the wavelength of light , and k is the number of layers. This merit function f is the sum of the squares

(6)

where n0 is the refractive index of the incident medium

(air) and
Y =

m21 + ns m22
m11 + ns m12

(7)

Fig. 2. The spectral reflectance and the structure of

the five-layer AR filter which was designed with the starting structure A(2L)(2H)(2L)(2H)(2L)S.

Fig. 4. Comparison of the performances of two designs.

The solid line corresponds to our third example whose design
is n0 = 1.00, n1 = 1.38, n2 = 2.3015, n3 = 1.5255, n4 =
2.1075, n5 = 1.6710, ns = 1.52; n1 d1 = 0.260 , n2 d2 =
n3 d3 = n4 d4 = 0.520 , and n5 d5 = 0.260 . The dashed line
corresponds to a refined AR filter of the design n0 = 1.00,
n1 = 1.38, n2 = 2.30, n3 = 1.38, n4 = 2.30, n5 = 1.38, ns =
1.52; n1 d1 = 0.29730 , n2 d2 = 0.12520 , n3 d3 = 0.12440 ,
n4 d4 = 0.08740 , and n5 d5 = 0.55970 , which was obtained
with the equivalent-layer technique [20]

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Fig. 5. The resultant structures of the two-index design

obtained by Southwells method [15]: (a) the design that results from the initial structure of alternating low- and highindex layers with a total physical thickness of 6000
A, a high
index of 2.35 and a low index of 1.38, and (b) the design that
results from the initial structure of all low-index layers with
a total physical thickness of 3000
A, a high index of 2.027,
and a low index of 1.388.

of the reflectivities at various wavelengths across the

band of interest where the exponential factor plays a role
as a weight function of with a center wavelength 0
(= 5500
A) with being a positive real constant (we
set = 1.0 here), and a and b are, respectively, the
smallest and the largest values in the band. f is a function of 2k-independent variables (k indices and k thicknesses). We want to find the position in 2k-dimensional
space where f takes on a minimum value in a specified
2k-dimensional box.
For a given wavelength of light , the characteristic
matrix of a layer of optical thickness x > /2 is equivalent
to that of a single layer of optical thickness x n/2
/2 within an overall sign factor, where n = 1, 2, .
The sign factor does not have any effect on the optical
performance. In the wavelength region of interest, a
b , we took 0 , which is greater than b /2, as the
largest optical thickness that a single layer could have
in the search for the minimization of the merit function
f . Here, we searched the refractive indices of the layers
in the region between na = 1.38 and nb = 2.35 where
many different materials are available to be used for the
deposition of nonabsorbing dielectric layers, and we set
a = 4500
A and b = 7000
A for the wavelength region
of interest.
From a starting structure which is given for the initial reference thicknesses and indices, we vary the optical
thickness of a layer (one of the parameters) up to the target wavelength (0 ) and search for the optimum thickness to minimize the merit function with other 2k 1
parameters (k 1 optical thicknesses and k refractive
indices) fixed. The optical thickness is replaced by the
value found in the search which corresponds to the least
value of the merit function in the variation of optical
thickness. In this case, the new optical thickness is stored

Journal of the Korean Physical Society, Vol. 32, No. 5, May 1998

Fig. 6. Comparison of the performances of three designs.

The solid line is for the design modified by evenly reducing
the thickness of each layer of the structure in Fig. ?? by 1/9
of the original thickness, the dashed line corresponds to the
two-index design shown in Fig. ??(a), and the dotted line to
the design shown in Fig. ??(b).

as the reference thickness for the layer. Similarly, the

reference refractive index of the same layer is searched.
Then the same procedure is repeated for the next layer
to find its reference optical thickness and refractive index. If the merit function has improved after searching
all the layers (a single cycle), one should go to another
cycle until convergence is achieved. The final reference
thicknesses and indices of all the layers give the design
result.
In the design procedure, each layer can have 50 incremental optical thicknesses which are equally spaced from
0 to 0 and 20 incremental indices equally spaced from
1.38 to 2.35. Figure ?? shows the structural solution for
a five-layer AR coating and its spectral reflectance when
the design is obtained starting from an initial structure
A(4L)(4H)(4L)(4H)(4L)S, where A and S denote air
and the substrate whose refractive indices are 1.0 and
1.52, respectively. Convergence was achieved in six cycles. L and H are quarterwave layers for the wavelength
0 and have the indices 1.38 and 2.35, respectively. For
the initial structure A(2L)(2H)(2L)(2H)(2L)S, the resultant structural solution of the AR-coating design and
its reflectivity are shown in Fig. ??. The reflectance is
less than 103 in the region of interest a b .
The
third
example
is for the starting structure A(2L)(4H)(2L)(4H)(2L)S
and leads to a completely satisfactory AR filter, as
shown in Fig. ??.
Convergence was achieved in
five cycles. The design of the resultant structure is
1.00
1.38 2.3015 1.5255 2.1075 1.6710 1.52
A
0.260 0.520 0.520 0.520 0.260
S

and the reflectivity in the wavelength region 4500 A <

< 7500
A is remarkably low.

III. COMPARISON OF PERFORMANCES

Design of Multilayer Antireflection Coatings S. I. Park and Y. J. Lee

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By comparing Figs. ?? and ?? with Fig. ??, it is easy

For comparison, we chose an AR coating of very
to see that the structures are all similar. The structures
low reflectivity, which was designed as follows: A seare basically a quarterwave layer successively followed by
ries of quarter-waves or multiples of quarter-waves obthree halfwave layers and another quarterwave layer, and
tained with an admittance locus in the first stage
the refractive indices of the designs are not very different
of design can be replaced by equivalent symmetfrom the corresponding indices of other designs. One
rical substructures to obtain a better AR performay imagine that there are a number of good structures
mance.
This is a well-known technique originated
of local minima in a small region near the three positions
by Epstein [19]. A refined version of the five layin 2k-dimensional space representing the structures in
ers obtained from the equivalent-layer technique [20] is
1.00
1.38
2.30
1.38
2.30
1.38
1.52 Figs. ??, ??, and ??. The resultant design delicately
A 0.29730 0.12520 0.12440 0.08740 0.55970 S depends on the initial state of the structure, as dicussed
and its performance is compared with that of our third
in Section II. This AR-coating structure consisting of five
example as shown in Fig. ??. Its performance is good
layers (quarter-half-half-half-quarter wave) has not been
enough, but the design in Fig. ?? shows much better
designed before, and other AR coating designs consisting
performance.
of five homogeneous layers have not been found to have
Next, we briefly describe Southwells flip-flop optimizabetter performances to the best of our knowledge.
tion scheme [15] in order to compare its characteristics
The optical thicknesses of the structure in Fig. ?? are
with ours. Using the fact that any interference coatidentical to the corresponding optical thicknesses of the
ing is equivalent to an approprate sequence of high- and
structure in Fig. ??. The two structures give similar
low-index layers, broadband antireflection coatings can
wavelength regions for antireflection. One can see that
be synthesized as two-index flip-flop structures. 6000
A
the optical thickness difference is crucial to the effective
or 3000
A is taken as the total physical thickness, and
wavelength region of antireflection by comparing Fig. ??
this thickness was divided into one hundred thin-layers
and Fig. ??, where the refractive indices are approxiof equal thicknesses. Here, the high and the low indices
mately identical for corresponding layers, but the optical
are set to be 2.35 and 1.38, respectively. A starting flipthickness of one layer is slightly different. One can take
flop structure is selected as an initial state. The structure
MgF2 , CeO2 , Si2 O3 , ZrO2 , and Al2 O3 , for instance, for
may be all high-index layers, all low-index layers, alterthe materials of the five layers of the design in Fig. ??,
ating high- and low-index layers, or an arbitrarily chosen
respectively. However, the codeposition method may be
state. Equation (8) is also taken as the merit function in
better for attaining homogeneous layers with precise rethis synthesis algorithm. The merit function is evaluated
fractive indices.
for each state through the characteristic matrix theory
We note that it is easier to produce the AR filter of
[21]. The initial state with its merit function is stored
conventional design in Fig. ?? than our third design in
as a reference state. Then, evaluation of the merit functhe sense that the latter has five optimum indices while
tion is repeated for the change of the state of each layer
the former has only two indices. However, it is not diffi(from low to high index or from high to low index) one
cult to produce homogeneous layers of the desired indices
at a time, and the merit-function value of the new state
by the codeposition technique. Furthermore, it is easier
(flipped state) is compared with that of the reference
to monitor the optical thicknesses when they are multistate. The reference state is replaced by the flipped state
ples of quarterwaves. One can see from Figs. ?? and ??
of a layer if the merit-function value gets better, otherthat our designs of AR filters are not only better in perwise it is retained. This procedure is continued for the
formance than Southwells designs, but also much easier
next cycle through all the thin layers until convergence
to fabricate.
is reached.
It can be seen from our several examples of AR designs
The resultant flip-flop index profiles for the total physthat the thickness precision is more important than the
ical thicknesses 6000
A and 3000
A are shown in Fig. ??.
index precision. However, for practical application, it is
These two designs show very good characteristics among
necessary to take into account the dispersion of dielectric
the AR coatings designed with this method. The third
materials and to search the tolerance of the refractive indesign in Fig. ?? is modified such that the thickness of
dex and the optical thickness of each layer. One may
each layer is evenly reduced by 1/9 of the original thickneed extensive calculations to investigate both the influness. The spectral reflectance of the modified design is
ence of the dispersion on our AR-coating designs and the
compared with those of Southwells two-index flip-flop
tolerance of the parameters of the designs. We pospone
designs [15]. Our design is certainly better in reflectance
the investigation of the dispersion to the future research.
reduction than the two designs obtained with Southwells
In this paper, we described a method which uses a minmethod in the wavelength region of 4000 8000
A, as
imization technique to design an AR filter consisting of
shown in Fig. ??.
homogeneous layers. The results depended on the starting structure, but several starting structures led to similar resultant structures. Although it can not be assured
that the resultant merit function in our third example is
IV. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

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Journal of the Korean Physical Society, Vol. 32, No. 5, May 1998

a global minimum in the minimization procedure, it is at

least a desired minimum. The overall reflectivity was on
the order of 104 in the band of interest.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors acknowledge the financial support from
Dankook University.
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