Ultrathin Yttria‐Stabilized Zirconia as a Flexible and Stable Substrate for Infrared Nano‐Optics

Abstract

by many emerging applications such as curved or bendable IR sensors. [3] When mechanical flexibility is required, polymers, such as polyethylene terephthalate and polyethylene naphthalate, are used in the visible region, but cannot be extended to the IR as they have several vibrational absorption fingerprints. There exist polymers, including parylene C, polydimethylsiloxane, polyimide, that are more transparent in the IR and have been studied in literature. [4] However, ultraviolet lithography is not always easy on such materials due to their sensitivity to chemicals. In addition, high-resolution electron beam lithography on these polymeric substrates is restricted by their limited thermal and radiation tolerance and nonplanar nature. Alternative methods like nano-stencil lithography and self assembly techniques could be employed to fabricate sub-micrometer features on these polymer substrates. [4] Besides the difficulty of finding an appropriate lithography method for patterning, the transmission spectra of these IR polymer substrates show still many vibrational fingerprints between 2 and 10 µm, which prevent their use both in most of the the near-IR (1-5 µm) and mid-IR (5-25 µm) regions.Yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) is a ceramic that has received a lot of attention due to its exceptional properties such as high hardness, high dielectric constant, chemical inertness, and high ionic conductivity at elevated temperatures. [5] In the powder form it is used to make coatings that are chemically inert and tolerant to mechanical wear and tear; for example, in cutting tools, chemical tank linings, and dental restorations. [6,7] It is also used as an electrolyte in solid oxide fuel cells. [8] Lately, there is a growing interest in using thin films and microspheres of YSZ for various photonic applications. [9][10][11][12][13] ENrG Inc. has commercialized 20 and 40 µm thick flexible substrates of 3 mol% yttria (Y 2 O 3 )-stabilized tetragonal zirconia (3YSZ) ceramic, which has also shown remarkable transparency in the near-IR and mid-IR while being translucent in the visible. [14,15] In this article, we propose and demonstrate for the first time that 3YSZ can be an ideal platform to implement next generation flexible IR nano-optic devices, such as plasmonic sensors and polarizers. We also show that it can be combined with graphene to make flexible transparent electrodes for the IR that can be used for cell culture spectroscopy and IR transparent shielding. [16,17] Infrared (IR) technologies have become increasingly relevant as they offer a wide range of applications, from thermal imaging to chemical and biological vibrational spectroscopy. Substrate materials, such as calcium fluoride and zinc selenide, are commonly used for IR optics. Unfortunately, they are typically fragile or hygroscopic, thus potentially producing problems during device fabrication and in the long-term functional operation. Here, yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) ceramic is introduced as a flexible and stable platform for IR nano-optics. In particul...

Thin high-strength zirconia tapes with extreme flexibility

“…Tetragonal zirconia stabilized with 3 mol% Y 2 O 3 (3Y-TZP) has become the most used zirconia ceramic because it exhibits the best combination of toughness and strength (typically 5-6 MPa m 1/2 and more than 1 GPa) [13][14][15]. Low Young's modulus, high fracture toughness and corresponding high strength make the 3Y-TZP ceramic a suitable material for the preparation of extremely flexible ceramic tapes [5,16] with applications in electronics as chemically, thermally, and mechanically resistant substrates. Although no large elastic deformation of ceramic products can commonly be observed, theoretical calculations show that a relatively high flexibility of thin ceramic sheets can be obtained [17].…”

Third-order nonlinear optical susceptibility of crystalline oxide yttria-stabilized zirconia

“…[16,[19][20][21] Thanks to the development of growth technique, YSZ has recently demonstrated its potential as a new material for low-loss optical waveguides and as a flexible substrate for infrared nano-optics. [22,23] However, nonlinear optical properties of YSZ have never been investigated.…”

Solution-processed thin film transistors incorporating YSZ gate dielectrics processed at 400 °C

“…Also, in its powder form it is used to make coatings that are chemically inert to mechanical wear and tear for applications in cutting tools. [49] There also has been a growing interest of YSZ in photonic applications, [50][51][52][53] in near-IR and mid-IR transparent window, [54] as buffer layer in silicon chip technology [55] and rarely as a gate dielectric. [26][27][28] YSZ films can be grown by a variety of chemical and physical deposition methods [39] , e.g.…”