Polycrystalline ZnS for infrared optical applications can be grown by chemical vapour deposition (CVD) over a wide range of process parameters such as pressure, temperature, Zn/H₂S ratio, growth rate and purity. In order to optimise the physical properties of this material to meet specific applications such as 8-12 μm window or multispectral visible and infrared window applications it is necessary to know how these growth parameters affect the optical and mechanical properties of the material, some of this data has been obtained by utilising a small scale low pressure research reactor in two configurations. In the first, a simple but effective vertical laboratory furnace was used to grow mainly 8-12 μm quality material for the determination of hardness and fracture toughness data, and in the second a more complex enclosed carbon reactor within a vertical laboratory furnace was used to grow mainly material for subsequent hot isostatic pressing. Four pLates of material of the order of 50 mm x 250 mm x 3 to 4 mm thick available from each growth experiment were characterised in terms of their optical, mechanical and structural properties. Thus material from a research reactor has provided data which goes much of the way towards enabling the best type of product to be defined for a particular requirement.

Date Published: 26 December 1984
PDF: 5 pages
Proc. SPIE 0505, Advances in Optical Materials, (26 December 1984); doi: 10.1117/12.964625

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 0505:
Advances in Optical Materials
Solomon Musikant, Editor(s)