Plasma nanofabrications and antireflection applications

Abstract

Plasma fabrication provides an approach to create nanostructured materials. We summarize recent studies on the quantum dot, nanograss, porous film and nanocone that have been developed using plasma methods to date and investigate the antireflection properties of the nanograss by spectrophotometric measurements and rigorous coupled-wave analyses. The results show that the reflection of silicon wafer etched for 40 min can be reduced below 4.5% in the range DUV to near-IR (200–900 nm), which agrees well with the simulation as the two-dimensional periodic pyramidal shapes with a period of 25 nm are used to mimic the nanograss surface. With these novel nanostructures and interesting properties, plasma processes will be increasingly significant to nanofabrication, especially when process compatibility is necessary for Si technology.

Fabrication of broadband omnidirectional non-reflective gold surfaces by electrodeposition

“…8,9 Numerous surface-relief grating structures with a period smaller than the wavelength of light have also been produced by etching techniques done in maskless or masked conditions. 10,11 Such nanostructured surfaces have several potential applications in solar cells, photodetectors or light emitting diodes. Even the reflectance of metallic films, which are known to be excellent mirrors, can be significantly altered by the structuration of their surfaces.…”

Nanograss-structured counter electrode for dye-sensitized solar cells

“…The nanograss-structured counter electrode was fabricated by dry etching of silicon followed by metal deposition [19e21]. This process is simple and low-cost, moreover, it is compatible with large area fabrication processes of DSSCs [22]. Fig.…”

Silica Λ-shape wedge arrays fabrication and interspace tuning via hot embossing and sol–gel replication

“…For example, a novel nanodome p-i-n a-Si:H solar cell, which contains a nanocone quartz bottom substrate and thus a Λ-shape active absorption layer and transparent conducting oxide, shows a significant increase in light absorption and self-cleaning effect compared to flat thin film solar cells [1]. Biomimetic silicon or PMMA nanotips exhibit splendid broadband antireflection properties and greatly enhanced light absorption [2][3][4][5][6][7]. Meanwhile, the applications of Λ-shape wedge arrays in Raman scattering enhancement [8], data storage [9,10] and medical instruments [11,12] were also investigated by researchers in recent years.…”