Nanoscale Characterization and Impurities of Fused Silica Optical Surfaces

Abstract

Fused silica is produced by melting high-purity silica and then rapidly cooling it. It has good physical and chemical properties, which also make it the raw material for most components in the optical industry, and is widely used in optical fiber communications, semiconductors, and aerospace. The content of SiO2 in fused silica is as high as 99.995% or more, but some impurities will still be generated during production and processing. The impurity elements of its optical curved surface can induce damage to the fused silica and adversely affect its performance, thereby affecting the performance of the fabricated element. In this paper, the impurities in the nanostructure of the fused silica optical surface are mainly analyzed, and the impurities on the surface are qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed by the characterization methods of secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) and X-ray diffraction analysis, respectively. The main component type and content of impurities were measured. The experimental results have an important impact on the production and preparation of optical components using fused silica as raw materials, which can remove surface impurities in a targeted manner and better utilize the advantages of fused silica materials.