Concurrent design of quasi-random photonic nanostructures

Abstract

Quasi-random nanostructures with neither periodic nor fully disordered geometries have been used for photovoltaics and light-emitting diodes because the stochastic patterns can manipulate light over a broad range of wavelengths and over wide collection angles. Although serial processes such as electron-beam lithography can fabricate nanostructures, prototype manufacturing over large areas is not possible. Moreover, trial-and-error processing optimization cannot guarantee the fabrication feasibility of the designed structures. In this paper, we report wrinkle lithography, a wafer-scale fabrication procedure whose processing steps can be integrated with concurrent design of nanostructures and function. As a proof-of-concept demonstration, we rapidly optimized three-dimensional structures for light trapping in amorphous silicon and realized >160% enhancement in light absorption over the 800–1,200-nm wavelength range.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Jul 31, 2017
Source ID
10.1073/pnas.1704711114

Entities

People

  • Clifford J. Engel
  • Dongjoon Rhee
  • Shuangcheng Yu
  • Teri W. Odom
  • Thaddeus Reese
  • Wei Chen
  • Won-Kyu Lee

Organizations

  • National Science Foundation
  • Northwestern University
  • Office of Naval Research

Tags

Readers

  • Nanofabrication and Microfabrication.
  • Nanoscale Plasmonic Nanotechnology
  • Parallel and Distributed Computing.

Technology Areas

  • Directed Energy
  • Microelectronics