Effect of high-temperature treatment on optical-absorption bands in amorphous SiO₂

The intensity change in optical absorption at 3.8, 5.0, and 5.8 eV was measured for thermal treatment up to 1000 °C done on silica glass samples manufactured by various methods. It was found that these absorption bands change differently with heat, depending on the synthesis process of the sample. The 3.8-eV absorption band due to peroxy linkage is found to increase with high-temperature treatment when the sample contains dissolved oxygen molecules within the sample. For the sample with no oxygen molecules, high- temperaturetreatment does not alter the absorption intensity at 3.8 eV. The 5.0-eV absorption band is found to decrease by high-temperature treatment. In the case of an oxygen-containingsample, the reaction of oxygen molecules with oxygen vacancy sites is a cause of this decrease. The 5.1-eV band, which was thought to have no temperature dependence, is found to be annealed at a temperature region around 950 °C.