Silicon Nanostructures for Bright Field Full Color Prints

Abstract

Nanoscale color printing has recently emerged as a unique alternative to traditional pigments by providing record spatial resolution, angular independent, durable and single material colors. Widely based on plasmonic nanostructures, numerous efforts in the field have aimed at extending color range and saturation relying on a variety of designs and metals. Alternatively, silicon nanostructures support finely tunable electric and magnetic multipolar resonances, afford low absorption losses and benefit from well-established industrial fabrication processes, all features ideally suited to nanoscale color printing. Here we compare the properties of silicon nanodiscs with those of aluminum and silver plasmonic elements for the specific purpose of nanoscale color reproduction targeting the coverage of a broad and vivid color palette. We highlight the different properties of such metallic and dielectric resonators in various geometric and illumination conditions leading to the optimization of silicon nanodisc arr...