Solar-blind deep-UV band-pass filter (250-350 nm) consisting of a metal nano-grid fabricated by nanoimprint lithography

We designed, fabricated and demonstrated a solar-blind deep-UV pass filter, that has a measured optical performance of a 27% transmission peak at 290 nm, a pass-band width of 100 nm ( from 250 to 350 nm), and a 20dB rejection ratio between deep-UV wavelength and visible wavelength. The filter consists of an aluminum nano-grid, which was made by coating 20 nm Al on a SiO2 square grid with 190 nm pitch, 30 nm linewidth and 250 nm depth. The performances agree with a rigorous coupled wave analysis. The wavelength for the peak transmission and the pass-bandwidth can be tuned through adjusting the metal nano-grid dimensions. The filter was fabricated by nanoimprint lithography, hence is large area and low cost. Combining with Si photodetectors, the filter offers simple yet effective and low cost solar-blind deep-UV detection at either a single device or large-area complex integrated imaging array level. (C) 2010 Optical Society of America