Angle-Insensitive Ultrathin Broadband Visible Absorber Based on Dielectric–Semiconductor–Lossy Metal Film Stacks

• Published in: Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 13; no. 19; p. 2726
• Main Authors: Ma, Yuanchen, Hu, Junhao, Li, Wenfeng, Yang, Zhengmei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.10.2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Absorbers; Absorption; Absorptivity; Analysis; Broadband; broadband absorber; Broadband transmission; Design; Dielectrics; Efficiency; Fabrication; Fabry–Pérot cavity; Identification and classification; interference effect; Materials selection; Metallic films; Metals; planar thin-film structure; Production costs; Properties; Semiconductors; Titanium; ultrathin absorbing semiconductor; China; United States > US
• ISSN: 2079-4991; 2079-4991
• DOI: 10.3390/nano13192726

Ultrathin broadband absorbers with high efficiency, wide angular tolerance, and low fabrication cost are in demand for various applications. Here, we present an angle-insensitive ultrathin (<150 nm) broadband absorber with an average 96.88% (experiment) absorptivity in the whole visible range by utilizing a simple dielectric–semiconductor–lossy metal triple-layer film structure. The excellent broadband absorption performance of the device results from the combined action of the enhanced absorptions in the semiconductor and lossy metal layers exploiting strong interference effects and can be maintained over a wide viewing angle up to ±60°. Benefiting from the lossy metal providing additional absorption, our design reduces the requirement for the semiconductor’s material dispersion and has great flexibility in the material selection of the metal layer. Additionally, the lithography-free nature of the proposed broadband visible absorber provides a high-throughput fabrication convenience, thus holding great potential for its large-area applications in various fields.