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2016
Journal Article
Titel
Black Germanium fabricated by reactive ion etching
Abstract
A reactive ion etching technique for the preparation of statistical ""Black Germanium"" antireflection surfaces, relying on self-organization in a Cl2 etch chemistry, is presented. The morphology of the fabricated Black Germanium surfaces is the result of a random lateral distribution of pyramidal etch pits with heights around (1450 ± 150) nm and sidewall angles between 80° and 85°. The pyramids' base edges are oriented along the <110> crystal directions of Germanium, indicating a crystal anisotropy of the etching process. In the Vis-NIR, the tapered Black Germanium surface structure suppresses interface reflection to <2.5 % for normal incidence and still to <6 % at an angle of incidence of 70°. The presented Black Germanium might find applications as low-cost AR structure in optoelectronics and IR optics.