Rockwell International Corporation

United States of America as Represented by the Secretary of the Air Force

Jeffrey F DeNatale

Charles W Seabury

Alan B Harker

Paul H Kobrin

Patrick J Hood

John F Flintoff

A resonant acoustic isolator supports a thin film acoustic resonator comprising a layer of piezoelectric material having top and bottom electrical contacts. The resonant acoustic isolator comprises at least one pair of layers of materials having different acoustic impedances. The isolator materials are deposited in alternating layers of high and low impedance material, with each layer having a thickness of 1/4 acoustic wavelength at resonant frequency. Silicon dioxide (SiO.sub.2) is preferred for the low impedance material because it is ubiquitous in the semiconductor industry, it has relatively low acoustic impedance with very low intrinsic acoustic loss, and it can be deposited using a variety of convenient methods. Hafnium oxide (HfO.sub.2) is preferred for the high acoustic impedance material because it can be deposited by evaporation to form a hard, dense dielectric having a relatively high acoustic impedance. Deposition of an entire stack of alternating SiO.sub.2 and HfO.sub.2 layers can be performed in the same chamber using electron beam deposition techniques for low cost production.

Acoustic isolator having a high impedance layer of hafnium oxide

A high temperature resist process is combined with microlithographic patterning for the production of materials, such as diamond films, that require a high temperature deposition environment. For diamond films, a high temperature silicon nitride resist can be used for microlithographic patterning of a silicon substrate to provide a uniform distribution of diamond nucleation sites and to improve diamond film adhesion to the substrate. A fine-grained nucleation geometry, established at the nucleation sites, is maintained as the diamond film is deposited over the entire substrate after the silicon nitride resist is removed. The process can be extended to form surface relief features, such as 'moth eye' surfaces, and microstructures of fine-grained polycrystalline diamond, such as rotatable microgears and surface relief patterns, that have the desirable characteristics of hardness, wear resistance, thermal conductivity, chemical inertness, anti-reflectance, and a low coefficient of friction.

Method of fabricating of diamond moth-eye surface

An optical device structure having enhanced resistance to damage by invasive laser radiation is described which comprises a thin layer of optical switching material, such as VO.sub.2, deposited onto a lattice matched substrate. A method for fabricating the structure is also described.

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Thousand Oaks, CA, United States of America

Jeffrey F DeNatale