Nanospherical-lens Lithography Research Articles

Polarization-Selecting III-Nitride Elliptical Nanorod Light-Emitting Diodes Fabricated with Nanospherical-Lens Lithography

Current-injected elliptical nanorod light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are demonstrated to emit polarized light with a bottom-emitting configuration. The polarization ratio of the electroluminescence reaches 3.17 when the length of the minor axis for the elliptical nanorods is as small as 150 nm. Electromagnetic simulation confirms the occurrence of the polarization selectivity especially when the length of the minor axis is down to 150 nm. Light with different polarization travels at different speeds in these asymmetric elliptical nanorods. Only one polarization experiences destructive interference between the light directly from the source and the reflected light by the top metal interface. A thin light-blocking layer is incorporated to increase the polarization selectivity. It is also not recommended to infill the gap with SiO2 since the polarization selectivity will be reduced. The proposed nanorod LEDs are fabricated using top-down nanofabrication approaches by combining nanospherical-lens lithography and two-step etch processes, which are both fully compatible with current semiconductor manufacturing processes. Results in this study will help to develop a chip-level polarization-selecting LED, which will be very useful for applications that require polarized light. It is especially beneficial for applications that are not suitable for using an external polarizer or require polarized light at the individual chip level.

Large-Scale Nanofabrication of Designed Nanostructures Using Angled Nanospherical-Lens Lithography for Surface Enhanced Infrared Absorption Spectroscopy.

Nanophotonics has been a focused research discipline for the past decade and has resulted in many novel concepts that promise to change human life. However, the actual penetration of this research into real products is severely limited mostly due to the slow development of economic nanofabrication. In this study, we have demonstrated a versatile and low-cost nanofabrication method referred to as "angled nanospherical-lens lithography (A-NLL)", which is able to produce large-scale and periodic nanopatterns. The nanopatterns designed within a two-dimensional polar chart can be carefully fabricated on the substrate. The fabricated patterns easily cover an area larger than 1 cm2, which is beneficial as platforms for surface enhanced infrared absorption (SEIRA) where an expensive and bulky IR microscope is not required. We believe that the proposed A-NLL method is ideal for industrialization of future nanophotonic applications.

Nanospherical-lens lithographical Ag nanodisk arrays embedded in p-GaN for localized surface plasmon-enhanced blue light emitting diodes

Large-scale Ag nanodisks (NDs) arrays fabricated using nanospherical-lens lithography (NLL) are embedded in p-GaN layer of an InGaN/GaN light-emitting diode (LED) for generating localized surface plasmon (LSP) coupling with the radiating dipoles in the quantum-well (QWs). Based on the Ag NDs with the controlled surface coverage, LSP leads to the improved crystalline quality of regrowth p-GaN, increased photoluminescence (PL) intensity, reduced PL decay time, and enhanced output power of LED. Compared with the LED without Ag NDs, the optical output power at a current of 350 mA of the LSP-enhanced LEDs with Ag NDs having a distance of 20 and 35 nm to QWs is increased by 26.7% and 31.1%, respectively. The electrical characteristics and optical properties of LEDs with embedded Ag NPs are dependent on the distance of between Ag NPs and QWs region. The LED with Ag NDs array structure is also found to exhibit reduced emission divergence, compared to that without Ag NDs.

Efficiency improvement and droop behavior in nanospherical-lens lithographically patterned bottom and top photonic crystal InGaN/GaN light-emitting diodes

Large-scale SiO2 nanodisk arrays fabricated by nanospherical-lens lithography are embedded in the n-GaN and p-GaN layer of an InGaN/GaN light-emitting diode (LED) to produce photonic crystal (PC) structures for efficiency improvement. Following the obvious reduction of view angle, the light output power of bottom, top, and double PC LEDs is enhanced by 74.5%, 60.1%, and 88.2% compared to that of a conventional LED at 350 mA current, respectively. Despite the enhanced external quantum efficiency due to improved crystalline quality and light extraction, these PC LEDs exhibit lower peak efficiency current density and more serious efficiency droop than conventional LEDs. Combined with the rate equation, the droop mechanisms of PC LEDs have also been investigated experimentally and by simulation.

Large-scale SiO2 photonic crystal for high efficiency GaN LEDs by nanospherical-lens lithography

Wafer-scale SiO2 photonic crystal (PhC) patterns (SiO2 air-hole PhC, SiO2-pillar PhC) on indium tin oxide (ITO) layer of GaN-based light-emitting diode (LED) are fabricated via novel nanospherical-lens lithography. Nanoscale polystyrene spheres are self-assembled into a hexagonal closed-packed monolayer array acting as convex lens for exposure using conventional lithography instrument. The light output power is enhanced by as great as 40.5% and 61% over those of as-grown LEDs, for SiO2-hole PhC and SiO2-pillar PhC LEDs, respectively. No degradation to LED electrical properties is found due to the fact that SiO2 PhC structures are fabricated on ITO current spreading electrode. For SiO2-pillar PhC LEDs, which have the largest light output power in all LEDs, no dry etching, which would introduce etching damage, was involved. Our method is demonstrated to be a simple, low cost, and high-yield technique for fabricating the PhC LEDs. Furthermore, the finite difference time domain simulation is also performed to further reveal the emission characteristics of LEDs with PhC structures.

High-Throughput Nanofabrication of Infra-red and Chiral Metamaterials using Nanospherical-Lens Lithography

Various infra-red and planar chiral metamaterials were fabricated using the modified Nanospherical-Lens Lithography. By replacing the light source with a hand-held ultraviolet lamp, its asymmetric light emission pattern produces the elliptical-shaped photoresist holes after passing through the spheres. The long axis of the ellipse is parallel to the lamp direction. The fabricated ellipse arrays exhibit localized surface plasmon resonance in mid-infra-red and are ideal platforms for surface enhanced infra-red absorption (SEIRA). We also demonstrate a way to design and fabricate complicated patterns by tuning parameters in each exposure step. This method is both high-throughput and low-cost, which is a powerful tool for future infra-red metamaterials applications.

A large-scale sub-100 nm Au nanodisk array fabricated using nanospherical-lens lithography: a low-cost localized surface plasmon resonance sensor

Large-scale Au nanodisk arrays are successfully fabricated using nanospherical-lens lithography (NLL). By incorporating both rotational oblique-angle deposition and oxygen plasma treatment, the improved NLL is capable of fabricating Au nanodisks with diameters as small as 75 nm that cover an area larger than 1 cm2. The fabricated nanodisk arrays are investigated as sensitive localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) sensors. The extinction spectra of the Au nanodisk arrays reveal a narrower LSPR peak when the diameter becomes smaller. The shape imperfection severely limits the minimum obtainable linewidth, especially when the nanodisk diameter is smaller than 200 nm. The imperfection is found to be improved by thermal annealing at high temperatures. The maximum theoretically predicted and experimentally obtained figure-of-merit for Au nanodisk arrays whose periodicities are 500 nm are around 15 and 9, respectively. Further optimization of the periodicity and thickness of the nanodisks will further improve their sensitivity and lead to more novel applications.

Selectively grown photonic crystal structures for high efficiency InGaN emitting diodes using nanospherical-lens lithography

We report a low-cost and high-throughput process for the fabrication of two-dimensional SiO2 photonic crystal (PhC) by nanospherical-lens photolithography method to improve the light extraction of GaN-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The PhC structures were realized by the selective area growth of p-GaN using SiO2 nanodisks, which were patterned utilizing a self-assembled nanosphere as an optical lens. Without prejudice to the electrical properties of LEDs, the light output power (at 350 mA) of LEDs with the SiO2 and corresponding air-hole PhC was enhanced by 71.3% and 49.3%, respectively, compared to that without PhC. The LEDs with selectively grown PhC structures were found to exhibit partial compression strain release and reduced emission divergence. The finite-difference time-domain simulation was also performed to further reveal the emission characteristics of PhC LEDs.

Controlled fabrication of photonic crystals in situ using nanospherical-lens lithography

Controlled fabrication of photonic crystals in situ using nanospherical-lens lithography

Observation of Absorption-Dominated Bonding Dark Plasmon Mode from Metal–Insulator–Metal Nanodisk Arrays Fabricated by Nanospherical-Lens Lithography

Plasmon hybridization modes are observed in the extinction spectra of a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) nanodisk array fabricated using nanospherical-lens lithography. Two distinct hybridization modes are observed in this vertically aligned configuration. Theoretical simulation indicates that the bonding mode located at a lower energy level exhibits an antiphase charge distribution and corresponds to the dark plasmon mode. This is vastly different compared to antibonding dark plasmon mode observed in the conventional dimer configuration. The observed mode is tunable over a wide spectral range simply by varying the insulator thickness and the diameters of the MIM nanodisks. Absorption is the dominating extinction process for the dark plasmon, while scattering dominates the bright plasmon mode. The ability to experimentally measure and tune dark plasmon modes using a MIM configuration should catalyze more novel studies that take full advantages of the absorption-dominated dark plasmon mode.