Philip A. Shields

Broadband moth-eye antireflection coatings fabricated by low-cost nanoimprinting

Subwavelength scale antireflection moth-eye structures in silicon were fabricated by a wafer-scale nanoimprint technique and demonstrated an average reflection of 1% in the spectral range from 400 to 1000 nm at normal incidence. An excellent antireflection property out to large incident angles is shown with the average reflection below 8% at 60°. Pyramid array gave an almost constant average reflection of about 10% for an incident angle up to 45° and concave-wall column array produced an approximately linear relation between the average reflection and the incident angles. The technique is promising for improving conversion efficiencies of silicon solar cells.

Facet recovery and light emission from GaN/InGaN/GaN core-shell structures grown by metal organic vapour phase epitaxy on etched GaN nanorod arrays

The use of etched nanorods from a planar template as a growth scaffold for a highly regular GaN/InGaN/GaN core-shell structure is demonstrated. The recovery of m-plane non-polar facets from etched high-aspect-ratio GaN nanorods is studied with and without the introduction of a hydrogen silsesquioxane passivation layer at the bottom of the etched nanorod arrays. This layer successfully prevented c-plane growth between the nanorods, resulting in vertical nanorod sidewalls (∼89.8°) and a more regular height distribution than re-growth on unpassivated nanorods. The height variation on passivated nanorods is solely determined by the uniformity of nanorod diameter, which degrades with increased growth duration. Facet-dependent indium incorporation of GaN/InGaN/GaN core-shell layers regrown onto the etched nanorods is observed by high-resolution cathodoluminescence imaging. Sharp features corresponding to diffracted wave-guide modes in angle-resolved photoluminescence measurements are evidence of the uniformity of the full core-shell structure grown on ordered etched nanorods.

High-resolution cathodoluminescence hyperspectral imaging of nitride nanostructures

Hyperspectral cathodoluminescence imaging provides spectrally and spatially resolved information on luminescent materials within a single dataset. Pushing the technique toward its ultimate nanoscale spatial limit, while at the same time spectrally dispersing the collected light before detection, increases the challenge of generating low-noise images. This article describes aspects of the instrumentation, and in particular data treatment methods, which address this problem. The methods are demonstrated by applying them to the analysis of nanoscale defect features and fabricated nanostructures in III-nitride-based materials.

Light emission from InGaN quantum wells grown on the facets of closely spaced GaN nano-pyramids formed by nano-imprinting

InxGa1-xN/GaN quantum wells have been grown on the {1011} facets of dense arrays of self-assembled GaN nano-pyramids formed by selective area growth and characterised by high spatial resolution cathodoluminescence. The pyramids are shown to have significantly reduced defect (green-yellow) band emission and the quantum well luminescence is correspondingly intense. The peak energy of this luminescence is shown to blue-shift as the sampled region is moved up the pyramid facets, revealing that InN incorporation in such closely spaced epitaxial nanostructures differs from that in widely spaced micron-size pyramidal structures decreasing rather than increasing towards the nano-pyramid tips.

Enhanced Light Extraction by Photonic Quasi-Crystals in GaN Blue LEDs

The far-field profile of photonic quasi-crystal patterned and unpatterned LEDs, fabricated from commercial epitaxial substrates by electron beam lithography, has been measured prior to lapping and dicing. Emission enhancements reach a maximum of 62%, and are strongly dependent on the filling factor. Qualitative agreement is achieved between 2-D finite-difference time-domain calculations and the experimental data.

Optical studies of the surface effects from the luminescence of single GaN/InGaN nanorod light emitting diodes fabricated on a wafer scale

Time-resolved and time-integrated microphotoluminescence studies at 4.2 K were performed on a single InGaN/GaN nanorod light emitting diode, fabricated in an array, on a wafer scale by nanoimprint lithography. Emission properties and carrier dynamics of the single nanorods are presented. Sharp peaks of 2 meV line-width were observed. The single nanorods possess longer decay rates than an unprocessed wafer at delay-times above 50 ns after excitation. The time evolution of the photoluminescence spectra implies that the slower decay times are due to surface related localisation near the perimeter of the nanorods, resulting in a spatial separation of the recombining carriers at low excitation densities.

Fabrication and Characterization of Light-Emitting Diodes Comprising Highly Ordered Arrays of Emissive InGaN/GaN Nanorods

A simple approach to fabricating ordered InGaN/GaN nanorod arrays light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with strongly directional light emission is reported. The far field radiation pattern of the nanorod arrays LEDs shows preferential emission in a ±10° cone about the surface normal and contained other features arising from diffraction associated with the periodicity of the nanorod array. The output power per unit in-plane emissive area at 300-mA drive current is three times larger than that of an equivalent planar LED.

Strong photonic crystal behavior in regular arrays of core-shell and quantum disc InGaN/GaN nanorod light-emitting diodes

We show that arrays of emissive nanorod structures can exhibit strong photonic crystal behavior, via observations of the far-field luminescence from core-shell and quantum disc InGaN/GaN nanorods. The conditions needed for the formation of directional Bloch modes characteristic of strong photonic behavior are found to depend critically upon the vertical shape of the nanorod sidewalls. Index guiding by a region of lower volume-averaged refractive index near the base of the nanorods creates a quasi-suspended photonic crystal slab at the top of the nanorods which supports Bloch modes. Only diffractive behavior could be observed without this region. Slab waveguide modelling of the vertical structure shows that the behavioral regime of the emissive nanorod arrays depends strongly upon the optical coupling between the nanorod region and the planar layers below. The controlled crossover between the two regimes of photonic crystal operation enables the design of photonic nanorod structures formed on planar substrates that exploit either behavior depending on device requirements.

Influence of stress on optical transitions in GaN nanorods containing a single InGaN/GaN quantum disk

Cathodoluminescence (CL) hyperspectral imaging has been performed on GaN nanorods containing a single InGaN quantum disk (SQD) with controlled variations in excitation conditions. Two different nanorod diameters (200 and 280 nm) have been considered. Systematic changes in the CL spectra from the SQD were observed as the accelerating voltage of the electron beam and its position of incidence are varied. It is shown that the dominant optical transition in the SQD varies across the nanorod as a result of interplay between the contributions of the deformation potential and the quantum-confined Stark effect to the transition energy as consequence of radial variation in the pseudomorphic strain.

Angle dependent optical properties of polymer films with a biomimetic anti-reflecting surface replicated from cylindrical and tapered nanoporous alumina

Anodic porous alumina nanostructures have been fabricated with tapered and cylindrical pores with a spacing of 100 and 200 nm and depth of 180-500 nm. The porous nanostructures were replicated into polymer films to create a moth-eye anti-reflecting surface by a roll-to-roll UV replication process. The angle dependent optical transmission of the resulting polymer films exhibited up to a 2% increase in transmission at a normal angle and up to a 5% increase in transmission at a 70° angle of incidence to an equivalent film with a surface replicated from polished aluminum. No significant difference was observed between the optical performance of moth-eye surfaces formed from cylindrical and tapered nano-pores.