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Antireflective polymer films via roll to roll UV nanoimprint lithography using an AAO mold

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Abstract

Anti-reflection based on the mimicking of moth eye subwavelength structures (SWSs) has several advantages over conventionally used multilayer thin film antireflective coatings like broad angular and spectral responses, polarization insensitivity and improved stability. In this study, we present the low cost fabrication of moth eye based SWSs on flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrates using roll-to-roll ultraviolet nanoimprint lithography. We have used a novel method to create a roller mold with embedded nanopores that can be used for easy replication of SWSs without demolding issues. Pure aluminum foil was wrapped around an acrylic cylinder (Ø = 90 mm) and a multistep anodizing and pore widening scheme was employed to create well-ordered and periodic anodized aluminum oxide (AAO) nanopores with different aspect ratios. Optical characterization of the antireflective PET film shows a transmittance over 92%, an increase of 3% as compared to bare PET, while reflectance can be reduced from 5.3 to 0.09% in the range of visible light. It was observed that higher aspect ratio SWSs is more effective in reducing reflections at higher incident angles. Consequently, we have demonstrated an economically feasible method for fabricating large area polymer films that can be used to reduce light reflections which impose severe limitations on the performance of many optoelectronic devices like solar cells, photodetectors and flat display panels.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology Office of Paradigm Technology University for financially supporting this research under Contract No. I000100P088.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Tainan, 71005, Taiwan

    Cheng-Hsin Chuang, Deng-Maw Lu, Po-Hsiang Wang, Wen-Yu Lee & Muhammad Omar Shaikh

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  1. Cheng-Hsin Chuang
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  2. Deng-Maw Lu
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  3. Po-Hsiang Wang
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  4. Wen-Yu Lee
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  5. Muhammad Omar Shaikh
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Correspondence to Cheng-Hsin Chuang.

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Chuang, CH., Lu, DM., Wang, PH. et al. Antireflective polymer films via roll to roll UV nanoimprint lithography using an AAO mold. Microsyst Technol 24, 389–395 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-017-3299-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-017-3299-7

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