Plasmonic color filters fabricated via oxide-based nanotransfer printing

Abstract

Plasmonic filters have recently become a topic of significant interest because they are suitable for a wide range of applications. However, effective fabrication of plasmonic filters remains a challenge. In this paper, we demonstrate a simple method for fabricating plasmonic color filters based on nanotransfer printing (nTP) , using SiO as a hard mask for Al etching. nTP was performed on a 100 nm Al layer deposited on a glass wafer substrate with a 10 nm Al layer and a 20 nm SiO layer with a nanohole pattern. The 10 nm Al layer and 20 nm SiO layers were previously transferred from a polymer stamp prepared to create patterns of subwavelength-sized holes. The plasmonic filters were ultimately fabricated using the SiO layer as a hard mask to selectively etch the Al layer. The optical properties of the fabricated plasmonic filters were evaluated using experimental and simulation tools. In addition, we analyzed the results of nTP on the Al and SiO films by varying the temperature, pressure, and SiO-film thickness. We believe that this technique is a promising method for fabricating nanostructures and for widening the scope of practical application of plasmonics because of its high efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

Illuminating Recent Progress in Nanotransfer Printing: Core Principles, Emerging Applications, and Future Perspectives

“…Given that the above-mentioned limitations of the conventional nTP originated from the low Young's modulus of the elastomeric molds, researchers have adopted more diverse mold fabrication technologies that can be applied to more rigid but still flexible materials. Among various methods developed for decades, three representative fabrication processes, based on simple casting, [15,[52][53][54][55] thermal nanoimprint lithography (NIL), [1] and UV-NIL [31,32,[56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66] are widely used. In the following paragraph, depending on how the master mold is replicated into the polymer nanopatterned mold, these representative methods will be introduced with the different advantages and disadvantages.…”

“…However, the use of a thick adhesive may alter the optical properties of the film, resulting in different optical characteristics from the intended design. To avoid this, N- propyl]ethylenediamine (mr-APS1), can be a feasible alternative, which has been widely used in the research of Hwang et al [31,59] The working mechanism of the mr-APS1 is different from those of the abovementioned adhesives. It constructs a SAM layer on the surface of the substrate and forms a covalent bond with the target material (Figure 5a).…”

“…This is based on the extraordinary optical transmission (EOT), which refers to the phenomenon where the wavelengths of transmitted or reflected light are dependent on the size of well-arrayed nanostructures (e.g., nanohole array and nanodot array). [31,59,56,103] Researchers have generally developed plasmonic color filters using the EOT phenomenon because the color can be easily controlled by changing the size and pitch of the holes or dots in the nanostructures. [65] For example, Ahn et al recently reported a flexible color filter using an Ag nanodot array on a .…”

“…To avoid this, N ‐[3‐(Trimethoxysilyl)propyl]ethylenediamine (mr‐APS1), can be a feasible alternative, which has been widely used in the research of Hwang et al. [ 31,59 ] The working mechanism of the mr‐APS1 is different from those of the abovementioned adhesives. It constructs a SAM layer on the surface of the substrate and forms a covalent bond with the target material ( Figure a).…”

Hybrid Metasurfaces for Simultaneous Focusing and Filtering

“…Several types of structural filters have been investigated as a replacement for color pigments in printing and imaging. These include plasmonic 2,3 , Metal Insulator Metal (MIM) 4 , Guided-Mode-Resonance (GMR) 5 , Photonic Crystal (PhC) 6 , and color routing structures 7 . However, each of these filter designs have shortcomings.…”