CORROSION-RESISTANT FRONT SURFACE ALUMINUM MIRROR COATINGS

Front surface metal mirrors need protection of the inherently fragile metal film deposited on a glass substrate. Conventional evaporated dielectric thin-film overcoats provide limited protection because of their less than dense packing. These films usually have a columnar structure with voids between the columns. The voids give access to the underlying metal film for humidity and corrosive gases or liquids. Some progress in developing better coatings was made in the early 1980s with ion-assisted deposition. Front surface aluminum mirrors with dielectric thin films deposited by reactive low-voltage ion plating have a still higher survival time, by a factor of up to 3 under comparable test conditions. The transmission of our best samples increased to only 10% when immersed in 0.2 M NaOH for 20 h. By comparison, an unprotected aluminum film dissolves in less than 5 min. Electron beam evaporated dielectric coatings provide protection for about 1.5 to 2 h in the same test solution. The reason for the significant improvement brought about by reactive low-voltage ion plating deposition, and its advantage for large-scale production is discussed.