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Black GaAs with Sub-Wavelength Nanostructures Fabricated via Lithography-Free Metal-Assisted Chemical Etching

Published

Author(s)

Kristine A. Bertness, Thomas Wilhelm, Alex Kohlberg, Mohadeseh Baboli, Alireza Abrand, Parsian Mohseni

Abstract

A highly practical nanofabrication process is detailed here for the generation of black GaAs. Discontinuous thin films of Au nanoparticles are electrodeposited onto GaAs substrates to catalyze site-specific etching in a solution of KMnO4 and HF according to the metal-assisted chemical etching mechanism. This provides a completely solution-based and lithography-free method for fabrication of sub-wavelength nanostructure arrays, which exhibit solar-weighted reflectance approaching 4%. This two-step benchtop process can be entirely performed at room-temperature without lithographic patterning or vacuum instrumentation, providing an alternative high- throughput nanotexturing approach for thin-film photovoltaics applications.
Citation
ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology
Volume
8
Issue
6

Keywords

metal-assisted chemical etching, photovoltaics

Citation

Bertness, K. , Wilhelm, T. , Kohlberg, A. , Baboli, M. , Abrand, A. and Mohseni, P. (2019), Black GaAs with Sub-Wavelength Nanostructures Fabricated via Lithography-Free Metal-Assisted Chemical Etching, ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology, [online], https://doi.org/10.1149/2.0311906jss (Accessed March 28, 2024)
Created June 19, 2019, Updated December 19, 2019