Silicon colors: spectral selective perfect light absorption in single layer silicon films on aluminum surface and its thermal tunability

Using two most abundant materials in nature: silicon and aluminum, spectral selective perfect light absorption in single layer silicon films on aluminum surface is demonstrated. Perfect light absorption is achieved due to the critical coupling of incident optical wave to the second order resonance mode of the optical cavity made of a thin silicon film on aluminum surface. Spectral selective perfect light absorption results in different optical colors corresponding to different thicknesses of silicon films. The device colors do not change when viewing from large angles with respect to the surface normal. Perfect absorption wavelength can be tuned over a wide wavelength range over 70 nm by thermal annealing. This new technology, which is low cost and compatible with silicon technology platform, paves the way for many applications such as optical color filters and wavelength selective photodetectors. (C) 2014 Optical Society of America