Antireflective subwavelength structures on crystalline Si fabricated using directly formed anodic porous alumina masks

A simple fabrication technique for subwavelength structured (SWS) surfaces by means of anodic porous alumina masks directly formed on Si substrates was proposed and demonstrated. By this technique, SWS surfaces were fabricated on polished single-crystalline Si and chemically etched as-cut multicrystalline Si wafers. Smoothly tapered SWS surfaces with a periodicity of 100 nm and a height of 300-400 nm were obtained. A low reflectivity below 1% was observed from 300 to 1000 nm for both of the wafers, in agreement with numerical simulation. After thermal annealing at 800 degrees C, the reflectivity of the SWS surface increased to 3%. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.