Substrates having an antireflection layer and methods of forming an antireflection layer

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016254395-A1
Application number	US-201415033142-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 30, 2014
Priority date	Oct 31, 2013
Publication date	Sep 1, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide for methods of making substrates having an antireflective layer, substrates having an antireflective layer, devices including a substrate having an antireflective layer, and the like.

First claim

We claim at least the following:

1 . A method of forming an antireflective layer on a substrate, comprising:
disposing a substrate in a solution, wherein the front side and back side of the substrate are functionalized to have a net positive charge, wherein the solution includes silica nanoparticles; exposing the solution to shaking; and forming, simultaneously, a uniform monolayer of silica nanoparticles on the front side and the back side of the substrate through electrostatic attraction of the silica nanoparticles and the functionalized surfaces of the substrate.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the solution includes about 90% by volume ethanol and about 10% by volume of water.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the solution includes a mass fraction of about 1% to 5% of silica nanoparticles.

4 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the solution includes a mass fraction of about 1.6% of silica nanoparticles.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the silica nanoparticles have a diameter of about 100 to 200 nm.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein exposing is conducted for about 90 minutes.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the substrate is selected from the group consisting of: a silicon substrate, a gallium arsenide (GaAs) substrate, a gallium antimonide (GaSb) substrate, indium phosphide (InP), and gallium nitride (GaN).

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the substrate is a silicon substrate.

9 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising, etching the substrate to form an antireflective layer that has a height of about 500 nm to 2000 nm, wherein the antireflective layer includes a plurality of pillars that have a spacing of about 10 nm to 300 nm between a pair of pillars as measured from the pillar base to pillar base, and wherein the pillars have a height of about 100 to 2000 nm.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the pillars have a diameter at the base of about 50 to 300 nm.

11 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the pillars have different diameters along the length of the pillar.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the pillar tapers from the base to the top of the pillar, where the diameter of the pillar at the midpoint of the length of the pillar is about 50 nm to 300 nm.

13 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising the step of removing the silica nanoparticles.

14 . A structure formed from the process comprising: disposing a substrate in a solution, wherein the front side and back side of the substrate are functionalized to have a net positive charge, wherein the solution includes silica nanoparticles; exposing the solution to shaking; and forming, simultaneously, a uniform monolayer of silica nanoparticles on the front side and the back side of the substrate through electrostatic attraction of the silica nanoparticles and the functionalized surfaces of the substrate.

15 . The structure of claim 14 , wherein the solution includes about 90% by volume ethanol and about 10% by volume of water, and wherein the solution includes a mass fraction of about 1% to 5% of silica nanoparticles, wherein the silica nanoparticles have a diameter of about 100 to 200 nm, and wherein the substrate is selected from the group consisting of: a silicon substrate, a gallium arsenide (GaAs) substrate, a gallium antimonide (GaSb) substrate, indium phosphide (InP), and gallium nitride (GaN).

16 . A structure comprising:
a coated substrate having a front side and a back side, wherein the front side and the back side have a monolayer of silica nanoparticles disposed on the surface of the substrate, wherein the light reflected is about 0.5 to 4% over a wavelength of about 400 nm to 800 nm for the coated substrate, wherein the light transmission is about 99% or more over a wavelength of about 500 to 650 nm for the coated substrate.

17 . The structure of claim 16 , wherein the light reflected is about 14% for a wavelength of about 550 nm.

18 . The structure of claim 16 , wherein the silica nanoparticles have a diameter of about 100 to 200 nm.

19 . The structure of claim 16 , wherein the substrate is selected from the group consisting of: a silicon substrate, a gallium arsenide (GaAs) substrate, a gallium antimonide (GaSb) substrate, indium phosphide (InP), and gallium nitride (GaN).

20 . The structure of claim 16 , wherein the substrate is a silica substrate.

21 . A structure, comprising: a substrate having an antireflective layer that has a total specular reflection of about 2% or less for the entire visible wavelength at an incident angle of about 0° to 90°.

22 . The structure of claim 21 , wherein the antireflective layer has a height of about 500 nm to 2000 nm, wherein the antireflective layer includes a plurality of pillars that have a spacing of about 10 nm to 300 nm between a pair of pillars as measured from the pillar base to pillar base, wherein the pillars have a length or height of about 100 to 2000 nm.

23 . The structure of claim 21 , wherein the pillars have a diameter at the base of about 50 to 300 nm.

24 . The structure of claim 21 , wherein the pillars have different diameters along the length of the pillar.

25 . The structure of claim 24 , wherein the pillar tapers from the base to the top of the pillar, where the diameter of the pillar at the midpoint of the length of the pillar is about 50 nm to 300 nm

Assignees

• Univ Florida

Inventors

• Jiang Peng
• Askar Khalid
• Wang Jiamin
• Kim Christopher

Classifications

• G02B1/113

  using inorganic layer materials only · CPC title

• Y02E10/50

  Photovoltaic [PV] energy · CPC title

• H10F77/707

  of the substrates or of layers on substrates, e.g. textured ITO layer on a glass substrate · CPC title

• H10F71/127

  The active layers comprising only Group III-V materials, e.g. GaAs or InP · CPC title

• H10F71/121

  The active layers comprising only Group IV materials · CPC title