ZnS and ZnS-MgF(2) composite films were prepared on soda-lime glass substrates and MgF(2) films on GaAs by rf magnetron sputtering to investigate multi-layer antireflection (AR) coatings. Optical constants of these films were determined by envelope method and spectroscopic ellipsometry. In particular, ZnS-MgF(2) composite films were fabricated by co-sputtering of ZnS and MgF(2) target to obtain intermediate refractive index material for a middle layer in the triple-layer AR coating and these films exhibited the desired intermediate refractive index. Based on the extracted optical constants, single-, double- and triple-layer AR coatings on GaAs substrates were designed and fabricated by rf magnetron sputtering. Low reflectance could be obtained from single-layer AR coating only at a specific wavelength and could be obtained from multi-layer AR coating at wide wavelength regime. Additionally, incident angle dependence of the reflectance of the multi-layer AR coatings was also investigated and showed different behavior according to a number of layers. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.