Advanced antireflective nanostructures etched down from nanosilver colloid-transformed island mask

Advanced fabrication methods for antireflective nanostructures are presented via the formation of thermally grown nanosilver islands from continuously deposited colloidal multilayers, followed by a multi-step reactive ion etch (RIE) with optimized gas mixture rate. This process allows the formation of a random array of nanostructures of diameter 150 nm or less and height greater than 200 nm. The reflectance falls to around 0.7% in the visible region, with reasonably enhanced broadband stability and reduced incidence angle dependence. The tunability of antireflection was investigated with respect to several parameters associated with the nanosilver etch mask fabrication and RIE conditions. (C)12 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.