Flexible glass planar structures fabricated by rf-sputtering

¹ IFN-CNR, CSMFO Lab and FBK Photonics Unit, Trento;
² Dept. of Materials Technology, Faculty of Applied Sciences, HCMC University of Technology and Education;
³ FBK-SE center - HyRes;
⁴ Center for Advanced Technologies, Adam Mickiewicz University Poznan, Poland;
⁵ FBK-SD Sensors and Devices Center;
⁶ Dept. of Mechanics, Materials and Biomedical Engineering, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology;
⁷ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Temple University;
⁸ IFN-CNR, Milano;
⁹ DICAM, University of Trento;
¹⁰ ILTSR PAS, Wroclaw;
¹¹ IFAC-CNR, MiPLab, Firenze, Italy;
¹² Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Trento;

Published online: 22 September 2025

Abstract

We present flexible SiO2/HfO₂ one-dimensional photonic crystals, fabricated via radio frequency sputtering. The structural, morphological, and optical features of the samples were investigated. One of the most remarkable finding lies in the experimental evidence showing that even after breakage, with visible cracks forming in the flexible glass, the multilayer structures largely retain their integrity.