Abstract
The butterfly‐inspired 2D periodic tapered‐staggered subwavelength gratings were developed mainly using finite difference time domain (FDTD) method, assisted by using focused ion beam (FIB) nanoscale machining or fabrication. The periodic subwavelength structures along the ridges of the designed gratings may change the electric field intensity distribution and weaken the surface reflection. The performance of the designed SiO2 gratings is similar to that of the corresponding Si gratings (the predicted reflectance can be less than around 5% for the bandwidth ranging from 0.15 μm to 1 μm). Further, the antireflection performance of the designed x‐unspaced gratings is better than that of the corresponding x‐spaced gratings. Based on the FDTD designs and simulated results, the butterfly‐inspired grating structure was fabricated on the silicon wafer using FIB milling, reporting the possibility to fabricate these FDTD‐designed subwavelength grating structures.
Highlights
Nowadays, there is an increasing trend to learn from nature to analyze natural structures and develop bioinspired devices/elements through mimicking or replicating natural structures [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11]
In this study, the butterfly-inspired newly designed 2D periodic taperedstaggered subwavelength gratings were developed using finite difference time domain (FDTD) simulation method, assisted by using focused ion beam (FIB) nanoscale machining or fabrication
The butterfly wings are the translucent and/or pigmented chitin membranes covered with lots of transparent and/or pigmented microscopic light-interacting scales
Summary
There is an increasing trend to learn from nature to analyze natural structures and develop bioinspired devices/elements through mimicking or replicating natural structures [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11]. It has been reported that the moth eyes have inspired the researchers to develop antireflective structured photovoltaic materials and devices (e.g., solar cells) for higher light-to-electricity conversion efficiency [12,13,14,15,16,17,18], and the lotus leaves have excited the investigators to design the selfcleaning/hydrophobic structures or surfaces [19, 20]. Like the nanostructures of moth eyes and lotus leaves, the structures of butterfly wings, which may contribute to their own colors [2, 5,6,7,8,9,10, 21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30], carry the potential to develop new materials, techniques, and devices for different applications. In this study, the butterfly-inspired newly designed 2D periodic taperedstaggered subwavelength gratings were developed using finite difference time domain (FDTD) simulation method, assisted by using focused ion beam (FIB) nanoscale machining or fabrication (the already achieved grating designs and their antireflection performance were obtained based on FDTD simulation)
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