access icon free Free-standing aluminium nanowire arrays for high-transmission plasmonic colour filters

Presented is a fabrication process for the transmission of red–green–blue (RGB) colour filters based on surface plasmons (SPs) using aluminium (Al) nanowire arrays patterned through electron-beam lithography and the lift-off technique. An array of Al nanowires was deployed over a through hole formed by sacrificial silicon etching. The period of the Al nanowire arrays is the dominant structural parameter in determining the transmission peak position of SPs for a given material configuration. The Al nanowire arrays are designed with the same Al wire width under the assumption of operation using a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) comb-drive actuator for the realisation of an RGB tunable colour filter. The peak wavelength of the transmitted light was red-shifted by increasing the period of the Al nanowire arrays from 450 to 600 nm, and RGB colours were demonstrated. A black pixel was produced using the 400 nm pitch Al nanowire array. The maximum measured transmittance of the peak wavelength was 56%. In addition, the number of nanowires sufficient for low-power operation by a MEMS comb-drive actuator was investigated and sufficient transmission light intensity was obtained from the pixel size of 10 µm2, including 20 Al nanowires.

Inspec keywords: aluminium; electron beam lithography; etching; optical design techniques; nanolithography; visible spectra; plasmonics; nanophotonics; surface plasmons; optical fabrication; nanowires; microactuators; spectral line intensity; nanopatterning; red shift; optical filters; nanofabrication; elemental semiconductors; silicon

Other keywords: transmission light intensity; microelectromechanical systems; RGB tunable colour filter; high-transmission plasmonic color filters; MEMS comb-drive actuator; low-power operation; maximum measured transmittance; red-green-blue colour filters; sacrificial silicon etching; black pixel; electron-beam lithography; Si; transmission peak position; lift-off technique; surface plasmons; pixel size; red-shift; transmitted light peak wavelength; structural parameter; material configuration; Al; free-standing aluminium nanowire arrays

Subjects: Fabrication of MEMS and NEMS devices; Visible and ultraviolet spectra of metals, semimetals, and alloys; Collective excitations (surface states); Spectral and other filters; Surface treatment and degradation in semiconductor technology; Optical fabrication, surface grinding; Structure of solid clusters, nanoparticles, nanotubes and nanostructured materials; Surface treatment (semiconductor technology); Nanophotonic devices and technology; Optical coatings and filters; Nanopatterning; Nanophotonic devices and technology; Elemental semiconductors; Nanolithography; Optical system design; Lithography (semiconductor technology); Low-dimensional structures: growth, structure and nonelectronic properties; Optical properties of metals and metallic alloys (thin films, low-dimensional and nanoscale structures)

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