MS Thesis - Majid Aalizadeh

METAMATERIALS AS BROADBAND
ABSORBERS, TUNABLE COLOR FILTERS,

AND MULTI-FUNCTIONAL METASURFACES
A THESIS SUBMITTED TO
THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE
OF BILKENT UNIVERSITY
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR
THE DEGREE OF
MASTER OF SCIENCE
IN
ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING
By
Majid Aalizadeh
June 2019
METAMATERIALS AS BROADBAND ABSORBERS, TUNABLE
COLOR FILTERS, AND MULTI-FUNCTIONAL METASURFACES
By Majid Aalizadeh
June 2019
We certify that we have read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully adequate, in
scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Master of Science.
Ekmel Özbay (Advisor)
Vakur Behçet Ertürk
İbrahim T. Özdür
Approved for the Graduate School of Engineering and Science:
Ezhan Karasan
Director of the Graduate School
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ABSTRACT
METAMATERIALS AS BROADBAND ABSORBERS,
TUNABLE COLOR FILTERS, AND MULTI-
FUNCTIONAL METASURFACES
Majid Aalizadeh
M.S. in Electrical and Electronics Engineering
Advisor: Ekmel Özbay
June 2019
Metamaterials have enabled us to come up with artificial structures and designs that
can perform optical functionalities which are not achievable with natural materials.
Here we design and implement three important applications of metamaterials as: 1.
Ultra-broadband absorbers, 2. Real-time tunable color filters, and 3. Wideband and
wide-angle efficient beam deflector and Multi-functional angular filter. By lithogra-
phy being a major hinder on the way to mass production and cost-effectiveness, most
of our works are lithography-free. We have introduced Manganese (Mn) for the first
time as a very promising metal for broadband absorption and have used it in all our
works. Four different Mn-based broadband absorbers are designed and fabricated in
different chapters. Mn is used in the Metal-Insulator-Metal (MIM) cavity, annealed
MIM configuration, top-layer-patterned MIM configuration, and random nanopyra-
mids. It is shown in all works that Mn has a much better performance compared to
other metals. For instance, in the work based on random nanopyramids, we obtain
ultraviolet (UV) to far-infrared (FIR) perfect absorption by exploiting a lithography-
free method and only by coating a single Mn layer on a high-roughness substrate.
Moreover, using the combination of the MIM cavity and an electro-optic material, we
have shown that a lithography-free color filter can be achieved that covers the whole
visible spectrum by changing the voltage from -12 to 12 volts. Finally, in a structure
composed of Silicon nano-rods, an ultra-wideband and wide-angle highly-efficient
beam deflection is obtained. What makes the same structure very promising is that it
iii
also has multifunctional applications as band-pass, band-stop, and low-pass angular
filter.
Keywords: Broadband absorbers, Manganese, electrically tunable, beam deflection,

and angular filtering.
iv
ÖZET
GENIŞBANT EMİCİLER, AYARLANABİLİR RENK
FİLTRELERİ, VE ÇOK İŞLEVLİ METAYÜZEYLER
OLARAK METAMALZEMELER
Majid Aalizadeh
Elektrik ve Elektronik Mühendisliği, Yüksek Lisans
Tez Danışmanı: Ekmel Özbay
Haziran 2019
Metamalzemeler, doğal malzemelerle elde edilemeyen optik işlevleri yerine getire-

bilecek yapay yapılar ve tasarımlar geliştirmemizi sağlamışlar. Burada şu üç önemli
metamalzeme uygulama tasarlıyor ve uyguluyoruz: 1. Ultra geniş bant emiciler, 2.
Gerçek zamanlı ayarlanabilir renk filtreleri ve 3. Geniş bant ve geniş açılı verimli ışın
saptırıcı ve Çok fonksiyonlu açısal filtre. Litografi seri üretime ve maliyet etkinliğine
giden yolda önemli bir engel teşkil ettiği için çalışmalarımızın çoğu litografi
içermemektedir. Manganez'i (Mn) ilk defa geniş bant emilimi için umut verici bir
metal olarak tanıttık ve tüm çalışmalarımızda kullandık. Dört farklı Mn tabanlı geniş
bant emici, farklı bölümlerde tasarlanmış ve üretilmiştir. Mn, Metal-İzolatör-Metal
(MIM) yapısında, tavlanmış MIM konfigürasyonunda, üst katman desenli MIM kon-
figürasyonunda, ve rasgele nanopiramitlerde kullanılır. Tüm çalışmalarda Mn'nin
diğer metallere göre çok daha iyi bir performansa sahip olduğu gösterilmiştir.
Örneğin, rastgele nanopiramitlere dayanan çalışmada, litografi içermeyen bir yönt-
emden faydalanarak ve sadece yüksek pürüzlü bir alt tabaka üzerinde tek bir Mn
tabakasını kaplayarak ultra-morötesi (UV) ile infrared (FIR) mükemmel emilimini
elde ediyoruz. Ayrıca, MIM yapısının ve bir elektro-optik malzemenin kombinasy-
onunu kullanarak, voltajı -12 ila 12 volt arasında değiştirerek, tüm görünür spektrumu
kaplayan litografi içermeyen bir renk filtresinin elde edilebileceğini gösterdik. Son
olarak, Silikon nano çubuklardan oluşan bir yapıda, ultra geniş bant ve geniş açılı
yüksek verimli ışın sapması elde edilir. Aynı yapıyı ümit verici kılan şey aynı zaman-
v
da bant geçişi, bant durdurma ve düşük geçişli açısal filtre gibi çok işlevli uygulama-
lara sahip olmasıdır.
Anahtar sözcükler: Geniş bant emiciler, Manganez, elektrikle ayarlanabilen, kiriş

sapması, ve açısal filtreleme.
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Acknowledgement
First of all, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to Prof. Ekmel Özbay, my
supervisor. His support, supervision, and trust in me made it possible for me to over-
come the barriers, and learn and produce new things during my MS studies. My expe-
rience as his student, taught me lot of priceless lessons. Providing us with the desired
facilities at NANOTAM, he opened the way for us to explore new topics.
My limitless gratitude goes to Prof. Amin Khavasi and Dr. Andriy Serebryannikov
with whom I have had very successful collaborations in all my works. All of our joint
works have been blessings to me and I have learnt many invaluable things from them.
I would also like to thank Prof. Vakur Behçet Ertürk and Prof. İbrahim T. Özdür
for their valuable comments and being in my thesis committee.
Moreover, I thank all the staff of the Bilkent University, NANOTAM, and UNAM
that had any contribution to help me during my studies. Especially, I thank MS.
Nursel Aşıcı, Mr. Mehmet Özgür and MS. Gamze Seğmenoğlu from NANOTAM,
and MS. Mürüvet Parlakay from EEE department who were always very helpful to
me.
I thank my friends and office mates who made the environment friendly and the
graduate life easier for me. I appreciate everything from Salahuddin, Farzan, Yigit,
Mohsin, Hossein, Ata, Dariush, and Ali.
I have absolutely no words to thank my mom and dad who have been my life men-
tors, supporters and strong motivations. My mom has always made great decisions
and nice plans for my studies from my childhood that have been one of the most ben-
eficial things to me in my life. My dad has taught me many life lessons and has
showed me how to be a man. As time passes by and I learn more and more about life,
I figure out what a precious blessing it is for me to have such a person as my father.
Their wisdom and guidance has been very helpful for me during my journey. They
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have gone through sacrifice and hardships to make it possible for me and my younger
brother to have a bright future.
I thank my younger brother, Navid, who is the most polite, coolest, and kindest
young person I have ever met. I am so lucky to have such a brother. He has always
made the home environment much more fun for me and has been the greatest brother
that anyone could ever wish.
Finally, I would like to thank Faezeh from the bottom of my heart, for always sup-
porting me for years, with her unconditional love. Without the motivation that I get
from her, none of these achievements would have been possible. She has been the
biggest energy source and encouragement for me during all the way I have come
through my path, and during all the good and bad days. I am so lucky to have met her
in the first place. She not only has been the love of my life, but has always been my
best friend. I have learnt many priceless life lessons from her and have learnt how to
be a better person for the world.
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Contents
1 Introduction 1
1.1 Background ...................................................................................................1
1.1.1 Broadband Absorbers .......................................................................2
1.1.2 Tunable Color Filters .......................................................................3
1.1.3 Beam Deflectors and Angular Filters ...............................................5
1.2 Thesis Outline................................................................................................6
2 Manganese-Based MIM Cavity 8
2.1 Introduction...................................................................................................8
2.2 Design and Theory........................................................................................9
2.2.1 Material Optimizations .....................................................................10
2.2.2 Dimension Optimizations.................................................................18
2.3 Results and Discussion .................................................................................21
2.4 Conclusion ....................................................................................................24
2.5 Methods ........................................................................................................25
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2.5.1 Experimental ....................................................................................25
2.5.2 TMM Calculations ...........................................................................25
2.5.3 FDTD Simulations ...........................................................................28
3 Random Nanoholes for Broadband Absorption 29
3.1 Introduction...................................................................................................29
3.4 Conclusion ....................................................................................................38
4 Patterned MIM Embedded with an Ultra-Thin Manganese Film 40
4.1 Introduction...................................................................................................40
4.2.1 Proposed Structure ...........................................................................42
4.2.2 Material Optimizations.....................................................................42
4.2.3 Dimension Optimizations.................................................................45
4.3.1 Absorption of the Optimal Design ..................................................47
4.3.2 Physical Analysis ............................................................................48
4.3.3 Fabrication Tolerance.......................................................................57
4.3.4 Polarization and Incidence Angle Sensitivity ..................................59
x
4.4 Conclusion ....................................................................................................60
5 Manganese-Based Lithography-Free UV to FIR Absorption 62
5.1 Introduction...................................................................................................62
5.3 Conclusion ....................................................................................................77
6 Lithography-Free Electrically Tunable Color Filters 79
6.1 Introduction...................................................................................................79
6.2 Calculation and Analysis .............................................................................80
6.3 Optimization of the Structure .......................................................................85
6.4 Electrical Tuning .........................................................................................90
6.5 Conclusion ...................................................................................................94
7 Multifunctional Polarization-Sensitive Beam Deflector and

Angular Filter 95
7.1 Introduction...................................................................................................95
7.3 Conclusion ....................................................................................................104
7.4 Methods ........................................................................................................105
7.4.1 Simulation ........................................................................................105
7.4.2 Fabrication........................................................................................105
7.4.3 Characterization ...............................................................................105
xi
8 Conclusion 107
A Publications 131
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List of Figures
2.1 (a) 3D schematic of the proposed MIM structure, (b) cross section of
the structure in xz plane, (c) refractive index of four common dielec-
trics investigated in the absorption calculations and, (d) calculated
absorption spectrum of MIM structure ................................................ 11
2.2 (a) Equivalent circuit of the MIM structure, (b) simplified equivalent
circuit model of the MIM structure, (c) real and (d) imaginary part
of permittivity of Mn and the ideal metal, along with those of Ti, W,
Cr, Pt, and Au that are commonly reported metals for broadband ab-
sorption, (e) calculated absorption spectrum of the MIM structure
using metals mentioned in (c) and (d). (f) Real and imaginary part of
input impedance of the structure using Mn (black solid and dashed
lines), normalized to free-space impedance, and reflection calculated
using circuit theory (red line). ............................................................. 14
2.3 (a) Total characteristic admittance of the structure, calculated by cir-

cuit theory, (b) characteristic admittance of top Mn layer modelled
as surface conductivity and characteristic input admittance of other
two layers looking from top of Al2O3 (denoted as Y2 in Fig. 2.2
(b)), (c) real and (d) imaginary part of permittivity of Mn along with
those of the other 5 metals, extended up to 2000 nm wavelength ....... 17
2.4 Calculated absorption spectrum of MIM structure for the different

values of di with (a) 20 nm steps and, (b) 5 nm steps, while Mn is
assumed as the metal and the top layer thickness is dmt = 5 nm, (c)
calculated absorption spectrum of MIM structure for different values
of dmt and, (d) average absorption for different values of dmt calcu-
xiii
lated in the 400–900 nm wavelength range, again Mn is assumed as
the metal and the thickness of the dielectric layer is di = 65 nm ......... 18
2.5 (a) Calculated absorption of MIM structure versus the wavelength

and different values of di, assuming Mn as the metal with dmt = 5
nm and Al2O3 as the dielectric, (b) same as (a) but for different val-
ues of dmt and with di = 65 nm, (c) calculated transmission from a
layer of Mn versus wavelength and different thicknesses of Mn layer
and, (d) maximum and average values of transmission from a layer
of Mn versus Mn thickness, calculated in the 400-900 nm wave-
length range ......................................................................................... 20
2.6 (a) Measured reflection, transmission and absorption spectrum of the

fabricated MIM structure, inset: image of the fabricated sample, (b)
comparison of simulation and calculation methods with measure-
ment for the absorption spectrum of the optimal MIM structure, and,
measured absorption of the MIM structure with different angles of
incidence ranging from 20 to 70 degrees, for (c) TM and (d) TE po-
larizations of incident light. Note that y-axis range is different be-
tween (c) and (d) .................................................................................. 22
2.7 Simulated (a) electric field intensity and (b) absorption distribution
in the cross section of the optimal MIM structure as a function of
wavelength, (c) contribution of top and bottom metal layers in the
light absorption and, (d) SEM image of the cross section of the fab-
ricated MIM structure, milled by FIB.................................................. 23
3.1 (a) Schematic of the MIM absorber, (b) Measured and circuit theory-
based calculated absorption of the structure for normal incidence,
inset: SEM image of the cross-section of the fabricated MIM ab-
sorber, milled by FIB; the white scale bar represents 200 nm. The
measured absorption spectra with different angles of incidence for
(c) TM and (d) TE polarization. All of the figures correspond to the
MIM sample before annealing ............................................................. 32
xiv
3.2 (a) SEM images taken from the surface of the MIM sample, before
and after annealing; the white scale bar represents 2 microns. (b)
measured absorption of the sample before (red line) and after (blue
line) annealing for the case of normal incidence, and, for different
angles of incidence in the cases of (c) TM and (d) TE polarizations.
Inset of (b) shows the image of the annealed fabricated sample ......... 34
3.3 (a) Magnetic field magnitude, (b) electric field magnitude, and (c)
absorption intensity distribution of on the xy cross-section of the
center of the top metal layer of the annealed structure, simulated by
importing the SEM image of the sample into the Lumerical FDTD
solver.................................................................................................... 37
4.1 (a) Left plot: 3D schematic of the absorber; one unit cell of the struc-
ture is bounded by dashed lines; right plot: a magnified view of one
unit cell. (b) Top view, and (c) side view of the structure; and (d) the
other image of the unit cell of the studied structure (perspective
view): a patterned MIM configuration with top periodic layer com-
posed of metal nanodisks, plus an ultra-thin Mn layer embedded into
the insulator of the original configuration ........................................... 42
4.2 Absorption spectra for different materials of the (a) dielectric layer,
(b) bottom metal layer, (c) top metallic nanodisks, and (d) middle ul-
tra-thin metal layer, while using the same materials for the remain-
ing components as in Fig. 4.1. The dimensions of the structure in all
cases are: p = 480 nm, r = 140 nm, h = 180 nm, di = 165 nm, tMn =
5 nm, and dMn = 135 nm. The geometrical sizes in case of another
material of the middle layer than Mn in (d) are the same as in case of
Mn ........................................................................................................ 44
4.3 Absorption spectra of the structure at different values of the radius of

nanodisks (r), while period (p) is taken as (a) 440, (b) 460, (c) 480,
(d) 500, (e) 520, and (f) 540 nm. In all figures, h = 180 nm and the
materials are chosen in accordance to Fig. 4.1 .................................... 45
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4.4 Absorption spectra of the structure at different values of the height of
nanodisks (h), while period (p) is taken as (a) 440, (b) 460, (c) 480,
(d) 500, (e) 520, and (f) 540 nm. In all figures, r = 140 nm and the
materials are chosen in accordance to Fig. 4.1 .................................... 46
4.5 (a) Absorption spectra of the optimal structure calculated by FDTD

(solid red line) and FIT (dashed black line) methods, along with
contribution of each metallic layer to the absorption of the entire
structure, and (b) absorption of the optimal structure (FDTD results)
with magnified ordinate axis, to clearly demonstrate the peak posi-
tions and bandwidth of the absorption ................................................. 47
4.6 (a) 3D schematic of the unit cell of the structure without the Mn lay-
er, and (b) absorption of the optimal structure with and without the
Mn layer shown in red and blue colors, respectively .......................... 48
4.7 The spatial distribution pattern of the magnitude of the y-component

of the magnetic field (Hy) in the xz cross-section of the structure at
the (a) first, (b) second, (c) third, and (d) fourth absorption peak ....... 50
4.8 (a) Absorption spectrum of the periodic array of Ti nanodisks on the

Al2O3 substrate, with p = 480, h = 180, r = 140, di = 165 nm. (b)
Absorption spectrum in case when bottom Ti layer is replaced by
PEC, with the same dimensions as those of optimized structure. The
insets show the schematics of the simulated structures ....................... 52
4.9 Absorption spectra of the optimal structure for different values of (a)
p, (b) r, and (c) h; (d) Real (blue line) and imaginary (red line) parts
of the normalized input impedance of the optimal structure, Zin, cal-
culated using S-parameters, see Eq. (4.2) ............................................ 55
4.10 (a) Real and (b) imaginary parts of the relative permittivity for Cr,
Fe, Mn, Pt, Ti, W, Au, and Ag............................................................. 56
xvi
4.11 Color plots of the absorption versus (a) p, (b) h, (c) r, (d) tMn, (e) di,
and (f) dMn and the wavelength, for the purpose of demonstration of
fabrication tolerance of the optimal structure. The dashed horizontal
lines indicate the optimal value of the parameter under study ............ 57
4.12 Absorption spectrum of the optimal structure for oblique incidence

angles of 20, 40, and 60 degrees; (a) TM and (b) TE polarizations .... 58
5.1 a) Transmission, reflection, and absorption spectrum of a 600 nm

thick planar Mn layer, b) Transmission, reflection, and absorption
spectrum of a 600 nm thick suspended pyramidal array (shell) of
Mn, and c) schematic of the random Si nano-pyramids before and
after coating the surface with e-beam evaporated Mn shell like thin-
film ....................................................................................................... 63
5.2 SEM image from the surface of the Si wafer etched for a) 100, b)
200, c) 300, and d) 400 process cycles. e) Absorption spectra of the
samples mentioned in (a), along with commercial Si wafer. Photo-
graph of the Si wafers etched for f) 100, and g) 400 cycles ................ 65
5.3 a) SEM image of the surface of the 300-cycle etched sample coated
with 600 nm Mn, b) SEM image of the cross-section of the sample
mentioned in (a) that is milled by FIB, c) AFM image of the surface
topography of the sample mentioned in (a), and d) photograph of the
sample mentioned in (a)....................................................................... 66
5.4 Absorption spectra of the fabricated samples with the three different
Mn coating thicknesses of 400 nm, 600 nm, and 800 nm, for the
cases of a) 200, b) 300, and c) 400 cycles of etching .......................... 68
5.5 a) 3D schematic of the approximated model along with its xz cross-

section of its unit cell, b) Calculated reflection, transmission, and
absorption spectrum of the structure when h=4, p=1, and t=0.6 mi-
crons. Calculated absorption spectra for the incidence angles of 20
xvii
degrees, 40 degrees, and 60 degrees, for the case of c) TE polariza-
tion, and d) TM polarization ................................................................ 69
5.6 Electric field magnitude distribution at the xz cross-section of the

unit cell for different wavelengths of 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 microns .......... 71
5.7 a) Absorption spectrum of Si nano-pyramid array coated with Mn,

Ti, W, Fe, and Cr, b) real part of relative permittivity, and c) absorp-
tion spectrum of 600 nm thick planar film of the metals mentioned
in (a), d) Schematic of the light trapping nature of the structure, and,
e) absorption spectrum of the nano-pyramid array of different sub-
strates when coated with Mn ............................................................... 72
6.1 (a) 3D schematic of the MIM filter and, (b) the cross-section of the
structure in (x,z)-plane. The names assigned to the thickness of lay-
ers are demonstrated in (b) .................................................................. 78
6.2 Circuit model of the structure using the transmission line theory. The
incident light approaches from the left side ......................................... 79
6.3 The transmission spectrum (blue line) of the MIM structure with the
metal layers chosen as Ag and the values of ni, dt, di, and db being
2.2, 25 nm, 70 nm, and 25 nm, respectively; the corresponding ver-
tical axis being on the right side of the plot in blue color. The accu-
mulated round-trip phase (red line) according to equation (6.1) cal-
culated by using the proposed circuit model; the corresponding ver-
tical axis being on the left side of the plot in red color........................ 81
6.4 Contour plots of the magnitude of (a) the electric and, (b) the mag-
netic field in different parts of the structure, the transmission spec-
trum of which is shown in Fig. 6.3, versus the wavelength. The ver-
tical dashed line crosses the wavelength of 550 nm, which corre-
sponds to the resonance of this MIM filter .......................................... 82
xviii
6.5 The transmission spectrum of the MIM filter calculated for different
values of di by using (a) the TMM, and, (c) the FDTD method, and
for different values of ni by using (b) the TMM, and, (d) the FDTD
method. Contour plots of the transmission spectra of the MIM filter
(e) for varying values of di when ni is 2.2, and, (f) for varying values
of ni when di is 70 nm, versus the wavelength, which are calculated
by TMM, and, the output color as a function of wavelength is also
shown below the plots in (e) and (f). In all cases, the material of
both metal layers is chosen as Ag and the layers are 25 nm thick....... 84
6.6 The transmission spectrum of the MIM filter calculated (a) for all
possible combinations of Ag and Au used in the metal layers, and
for different pairs of (b) unequal and (c) equal values of dt and db
when di is 70 nm and ni is 2.2, and both the metal layers are chosen
as 25 nm thick Ag ................................................................................ 85
6.7 (a) 3D schematic of the electrically tunable color filter ,(b) the trans-
mission spectrum of the color filter for different values of the ap-
plied voltage, (c) contour plots of the transmission spectra at contin-
uous variation of applied voltage, the output color as a function of
wavelength is also shown below the plot, (d) 3D surface plot of φtot
versus wavelength and applied voltage; the meshed plane shows the
zero-phase plane, and, (e) the resonance wavelengths versus the ap-
plied voltage calculated from the phase condition (equation 6.1) and
from the TMM method ........................................................................ 88
6.8 The transmission spectrum of the electrically tunable color filter for
different values of the applied voltage at the incidence angle of 45
degrees, for (a) TM and (b) TE polarization, calculated by the FDTD
method, and for (c) TM and (d) TE polarization, calculated by the
TMM method ....................................................................................... 89
7.1 a) 3D schematic of the structure, b) SEM image of the top view of

the fabricated sample, and c) 2D cross-section of the of the structure
xix
along with the schematic of the incident, 0 order reflection, and -1
order diffraction beams ........................................................................ 93
7.2 Simulated deflection efficiency of -1 order of the structure for TE

polarization as a function of a) incidence angle and b) wavelength.
Measured deflection efficiency contour plots of a) TE polarization -
1 order, b) TE polarization 0 order, c) TM polarization -1 order, and
d) TM polarization 0 order, as a function of wavelength and inci-
dence angle. The white dashed lines in (c) represent iso-lines of con-
stant -1 order reflection angles of -30, -40, and -50 degrees. The
black dashed line in (c) represent the border where -1 order starts to
appear ................................................................................................... 94
7.3 Measured deflection efficiency contour plots of -1 reflection order of

the structure for a) TE and b) TM polarizations, as a function of
wavelength and incidence angle .......................................................... 96
7.4 Spatial filter functionalities of the structure. Deflection efficiency of

a) TE polarization at 0 order at the wavelengths of 890, 900, and 910
nm, b) TE polarization at 0 order at the wavelengths of 1500, 1700,
1900, and 2100 nm, c) TE polarization at -2 order at the wave-
lengths of 770,780, and 790 nm, and d) TM polarization at -3 order
at the wavelengths of 550, 560, and 570 nm ....................................... 98
7.5 Beam splitter functionality of the structure. Deflection efficiency of

TE polarization at a) -1 order, b) -2 order, and c) sum of -1 and -2
orders, at the wavelengths of 1030, 1050, and 1070 nm ..................... 99
xx
Chapter 1
Introduction
1.1 Background
This chapter is on part reprinted with permission from: 1. Majid Aalizadeh, A.

Khavasi, B. Butun, and E. Ozbay, “Large-Area, Cost-Effective, Ultra-Broadband Per-
fect Absorber Utilizing Manganese in Metal-Insulator-Metal Structure,” Scientific
Reports, vol. 8, p. 9162, 2018, and 2. Majid Aalizadeh, A. E. Serebryannikov, A.
Khavasi, G. A. E. Vandenbosch, and E. Ozbay, “Toward Electrically Tunable,
Lithography-Free, Ultra-Thin Color Filters Covering the Whole Visible Spectrum,”
Scientific Reports, vol. 8, p. 11316, 2018.
Natural materials have limitations in their optical performance. They either have to be
too bulky to be used for optical applications, or do not perform as efficient as re-
quired. Metamaterials, consisting of natural materials but in specific designs, have
made it possible to come up with subwavelength structures that can function much
more efficient compared to the natural materials.
In this thesis, three important applications of metamaterials are explored: 1. Ultra-

broadband and lithography-free absorbers, 2. Lithography-free electrically tunable
color filters, and 3. Wideband and wide-angle beam deflector and multifunctional an-
gular filter metasurfaces.
1
1.1.1 Broadband Absorbers
Electromagnetic (EM) wave absorbers have attracted a lot of interest in technolo-

gy, because of their vast range of applications in photovoltaics [1-4], shielding [5, 6],
thermal imaging [7-9], sensing [10-12], photodetection [13-17], and thermal emis-
sion-based cooling [18, 19]. With the advent of plasmonics [20] and metamaterials, it
became possible to design absorbers with ultra-thin sub-wavelength thicknesses,
which is of high importance for optical packed circuit integration and the reduction of
mass and cost of structures.
The general requirements for an absorber structure to absorb electro-magnetic

(EM) energy are having impedance matching with free space to minimize reflection
[21, 22] as well as near to zero transmission. One of methods to absorb light is to trap
EM wave in a resonance mode of light and to absorb it by means of loss mechanisms
such as electron collisions. The common resonance modes used in the design of ab-
sorbers are Localized Surface Plasmon (LSP) modes [23-27], Propagating Surface
Plasmon (PSP) modes [28, 29] and Fabry-Perot resonance modes [30, 31]. To obtain
broadband absorption, we can broaden the resonance bandwidth by sufficiently low-
ering the quality-factor with the appropriate choice of metals and the geometric de-
sign. The other approach is to design the structure in a way to have the superposition
of several adjacent resonance modes and, therefore, broaden the absorption spectrum.
It is of high importance for the broadband absorber to be designed in a way to have

large-scale production compatibility. One big barrier to large-scale production is the
use of lithography in the structures, which is time consuming and costly. In order to
have mass production compatibility, it is also very beneficial to use inexpensive ma-
terials in the structure. Therefore, designing a broadband lithography-free absorber in
which inexpensive materials are used is very advantageous and meets the require-
ments of large-scale production.
In one of the pioneer works that was based on the superposition of LSPs, Aydin et
al. [32] achieved an average of 71 percent absorption in the visible region (400-700
nm), by superposing the LSP modes of varying width of nanorods. However, it was
achieved by use of Electron Beam Lithography (EBL). Some other works are fabri-
2
cated or designed to obtain broadband absorption in the visible [33-35], near-infrared
(NIR) [36, 37], mid-infrared (MIR) [38-41], far-Infrared (FIR) [42], and Terahertz
[43-46] ranges by using EBL and implementing the above-mentioned ideas.
In a recent lithography-free work conducted in our group, 97 percent absorption

was achieved from 400 to 2000 nm wavelength by employing the superposition of
LSP modes of dielectric-metal core-shell nanowires. This broadband perfect absorp-
tion was the result of randomness in the size of chemically synthesized nanowires
[47]. One other common method to broaden the absorption band without the use of
lithography is to anneal the structure in high temperatures, which is called the De-
wetting process [48]. This leads thin layers to reform into nanoholes or nanoparticles,
and adds the superposition of the LSP modes of nanopatterns into the absorption
bandwidth. Some works are done in our group to broaden the absorption of Metal-
Insulator-Metal-Insulator (MIMI) structure using this method [49, 50]. However, this
comes with the cost of access to very high temperatures, which is time consuming
and always brings the possibility of sample cracking, especially for the ones with thin
substrates.
As mentioned earlier, lowering the quality factor of Fabry-Perot resonance is an-

other way to achieve broadband absorption without lithography. This resonance can
be obtained by making a Fabry-Perot resonator using an MIM structure. By adding
the number of Metal-Insulator (MI) pairs, a broader bandwidth can be obtained. Some
lithography-free works have achieved broadband absorption by employing MI multi-
layer stacks. These works are done by using different combinations of MI pairs such
as Cr-SiO2 [51], W-Al2O3 [52], Ti-SiO2 [53], and W-Al2O3-Ti- Al2O3 [54]. Also in a re-
cent lithography-free work, broadband infrared absorption is obtained by implement-
ing ITO-photoresist pairs [55].
1.1.2 Tunable Color Filters
The electromagnetic (EM) response of an optical device depends on the dimensions

and material parameters of its components. This often imposes a limitation on their
tuning functionality in a way that the EM response gets determined at the stage of
3
fabrication, since new dimensions and/or materials are required to obtain a new EM
response. To obtain the possibility of real-time tuning of the EM response of optical
structures after the fabrication, dynamically tunable ideas are required to be imple-
mented. Among different ways of tuning, tuning with variable voltage (electrical tun-
ing) has always been the most desirable and has been the topic of extensive research
over the last decade. For this purpose, different methods and materials have been
suggested. Utilizing electro-optically active materials is one of the most common
methods for electrical tuning of optical structures. Optical behavior of these materials
is modified by applying voltage. Liquid crystals [56-59], organic crystals [60-62],
graphene [63-66], heavily doped compounds like Al-doped ZnO (AZO) [67] or n-
type Indium Antimonide (n-InSb) [68], and transparent conductive oxides like Indium
Tin Oxide (ITO) [69-74] or Indium Zinc Oxide (IZO) [75] are common materials
used for this purpose. The choice of an electro-optic (EO) material depends on the
design and the operating wavelength range of the optical structure. It is noteworthy
that micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) or nano-electro-mechanical systems
(NEMS) have also been used to provide optical devices with the possibility of real-
time controlling [76, 77].
Recently, several works have been reported, in which ITO is used to electrically
tune the reflection spectrum of the optical structures, in particular, the one of the re-
flect-array metasurfaces [69-74]. Some works have been dedicated to the use of ITO
as the tunable material to actively steer the reflected beam of metasurfaces [73, 74].
The structures involving ITO as the active material generally use it in the configura-
tion of Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (MOS) capacitor, so that by applying voltage, the
carrier concentration of ITO changes in the vicinity of the ITO-oxide interface. These
changes lead to those in the plasma frequency of the Drude model of the permittivity
of ITO, and thus modulate the permittivity and the refractive index profile of ITO
[78]. This is how the optical response of such structures gets tuned by the application
of voltage.
A number of works have also used graphene as the active material [63-66]. The
tuning in these works has been possible due to the shift in the Fermi energy level of
graphene, which is obtainable by applying a bias voltage, so that the optical response
of graphene and the whole structure is changed.
4
Color generators represent a wide class of the optical devices having various ap-
plications including displays, printing technologies, imaging, and light emitters. Some
structural color generators are available in nature in specific types of insects, birds,
and animals, such as butterfly wings [79-83].Initial artificial color displays have em-
ployed liquid crystals, and produce the three main colors, red, green, and blue [84-
86]. Recently, metamaterials have been introduced as a new platform that enables the
realization of color displays with higher compactness, better resolution, better power-
efficiency, and more flexibility in design-based color tunability. There are a lot of
works demonstrating color filters without the possibility of real-time tuning [31, 87-
93]. At the same time, tunable color filters working in the transmission or reflection
mode have also been reported; some of which are dynamically controllable by the
polarization of incident light [94-96], while some others are electrically tunable [56,
59, 68, 97]. For example, it has been suggested to use a polarization-tailored dichroic
resonator combined with a twisted nematic liquid crystal [98]. However, in this case,
lithography is required in the fabrication process.
In most of the earlier works, lithography is typically required as a part of fabrica-

tion process, which is the main barrier to mass production. It brings many limitations
such as significantly restricting the area of samples, decreasing the throughput, and
increasing the cost of fabrication. Therefore, coming up with a lithography-free de-
sign is of great importance for the purpose of large-area production and cost reduc-
tion. A lithography-free approach has been recently proposed in a few works for color
filters, which cannot be tuned in real time [73, 74]. These series of lithography-free
bandpass filters are based on the MIM cavities and work in the transmission mode.
1.1.3 Beam Deflectors and Angular Filters
Electromagnetic beam manipulation has attracted a lot of interest in recent decades.

Beam deflection and anomalous reflection is one important type of beam manipula-
tion application for wave-front engineering devices. The previous structures used for
beam deflection include photonic crystals, hyperbolic metamaterials, gratings [99,
100], phased arrays, and metasurfaces [101, 102]. However, most of them either have
a limited efficiency or do not have wideband and wide-angle desired behavior.
5
Another highly-demanded type of beam manipulation is the filtering functionality.
Filtering can be realized both in the frequency and incidence angle domain, which are
called spectral and spatial filtering, respectively. Spatial filtering is the possibility of
passing or rejecting beams with a specific direction of incidence into another speci-
fied direction. These direction selective spatial filters (SFs) along with the spectral
filters are of high importance in optics and have applications in detection, sensing,
and imaging.
Some spatial filters were reported previously which were based on photonic crys-
tals [103-105], resonant and non-resonant grating structures [106, 107], axisymmetric
photonic microstructures [108], hyperbolic metamaterials [109], and waveguide-
based systems [110]. Nevertheless, they are typically designed to have single func-
tionality and often perform as one type of SF, i.e. either function as band-pass, band-
stop, low-pass, or high-pass filters.
1.2 Thesis Outline
Chapters 2 to 5 are dedicated to four different broadband absorbers with the inclusion
of Mn. Mn is introduced as a promising metal for broadband absorbers for the first
time and it is shown in all works that it demonstrates a superior performance com-
pared to other metals. In chapter 2, Mn is used in the basic MIM configuration and by
using this lithography-free structure, above 94% average absorption is obtained in the
wavelength range of 400-900 nm. Chapter 3 shows how annealing the Mn-based
MIM structure boosts the broadband absorption performance. It is shown that by an-
nealing the structure, random nanoholes appear in the top thin Mn layer that can sup-
port Localized Surface Plasmon modes, the superposition of which leads to broaden-
ing the absorption spectrum of the MIM cavity with a 2.1-fold enhancement. An av-
erage absorption of above 94% is achieved in the range of 450-1400 nm, using this
lithography-free structure. In another attempt in chapter 4, it is shown that embedding
an ultra-thin Mn layer inside the top-layer-patterned MIM cavity enhances the ab-
sorption band at about tenfold. As the last work on broadband absorbers, UV to FIR
6
absorption is achieved by coating a single layer of Mn on any high-roughness sub-
strate and the results are presented in chapter 5.
In chapter 6, by exploiting an electro-optic dielectric in the insulator section of the

MIM filter, we have achieved a lithography-free color filter that covers the whole vis-
ible spectrum by applying -12 to 12 volts of voltage.
Chapter 7 shows that by using a simple structure consisting of Silicon nanorods,

highly-efficient, wideband and wide-angle beam deflection is achievable. This
metasurface also shows multiple angular filtering functionalities as band-pass, band-
stop, and low-pass spatial filters.
Finally, chapter 8 presents a conclusion on the thesis.
7
Chapter 2
Manganese-Based MIM Cavity
This chapter is on part reprinted with permission from: Majid Aalizadeh, A. Khava-
si, B. Butun, and E. Ozbay, “Large-Area, Cost-Effective, Ultra-Broadband Perfect
Absorber Utilizing Manganese in Metal-Insulator-Metal Structure,” Scientific Re-
ports, vol. 8, p. 9162, 2018.
2.1 Introduction
It is known well that the MI-stack broadband absorbers have at least four layers (two
MI pairs) in their structure. However, the purpose of this section is not to design an
MI-stack absorber. We want to design a broadband absorber using the tri-layer MIM
structure, which is the simplest possible configuration for absorbers. Moreover, as
mentioned before, the MI-stack absorbers are discussed in several works, but, to the
best of our knowledge, there are very few tri-layer broadband, lithography-free and
annealing-free absorbers, reported previously [111].
In the present section, we experimentally demonstrate lithography-free, ultra-

broadband nearly perfect absorption within 400-900 nm range by the MIM structure.
The measured average absorption in this wavelength range is above 94 percent by the
use of Mn in the metal layers. The most important difference between our work in
this section and earlier works is that we introduce Mn for the first time in broadband
8
absorbers, and, by detailed analysis, we show that it is a very promising metal for
achieving maximum absorption in broadband absorption applications. It is also an
inexpensive metal unlike gold or silver, which can reduce the cost of fabrication in
favor of mass production. Also, the proposed structure does not need post-annealing.
In the following parts of this section, first, MIM cavities and formulation of their
resonance modes is discussed. Then, the optimization process of this structure is ex-
plained in detail in terms of two factors: 1. Materials and 2. Dimensions. First, to op-
timize the structure by choosing the appropriate materials, the effect of dielectric ma-
terial is investigated, and also it has been demonstrated numerically that the best
choice of metal is Mn for this structure. During the optimizations and calculations,
the structure is modeled by using the Transfer Matrix Method (TMM) and also circuit
theory. Some of simulations are also performed by the Finite Difference Time Do-
main (FDTD) method. It is also conceptually demonstrated as to how Mn is such an
appropriate metal for the MIM structure and for broadband absorbers in general, by
discussing based on its permittivity profile. Then, the structure is optimized in terms
of the dimensions of different layers. At the end, the optimal structure has been fabri-
cated and characterized. The experimental results are in good agreement with simula-
tions and calculations showing a very large absorption bandwidth.
2.2 Design and Theory
Figure 2.1(a) depicts a 3D graphical schematic of the MIM structure and Fig. 2.1(b)
shows its 2D cross section in xz plane. The bottom layer is an optically thick metal
layer that is much thicker than the skin depth of the metal to ensure zero transmission.
The middle insulator layer can be chosen among different dielectrics, taking into ac-
count the fact that the refractive index of the dielectric is an important parameter in
determining the resonance frequency of the cavity mode. The top layer must be opti-
cally thin to allow the coupling of the incident light into the MIM cavity and conse-
quently getting trapped inside it with back and forth reflections from metals. The
trapped light is partly absorbed in each reflection, eventually, leading to complete ab-
sorption.
9
The resonance mode of the asymmetric Fabry-Perot cavity shaped by this MIM
structure follows the equation of the form [30]:
 2 
2  ni di  b  t  2 m (2.1)
 res 
where λres is the resonance wavelength, ni and di are the refractive index and thickness
of the insulator layer, respectively, and m is an integer number which determines the
order of cavity mode. It can be deduced from equation (2.1) that higher order cavity
modes resonate at smaller wavelengths. φb and φt are the phase shift acquired from
reflection from the bottom and top metal layers, respectively. It is noteworthy that
equation (2.1) along with all other analytical theories presented throughout this sec-
tion is only applicable for normal incidence. It can be seen that by increasing ni or di,
λres increases as well. In other words, by increasing the optical beam path which is
written as nidi, the resonance wavelength red-shifts. Therefore, to modify the center of
the absorption band, one can use dielectrics with different refractive indices or adjust
its thickness according to the absorption band of desire. To achieve broadband ab-
sorption, the quality-factor of cavity mode should be sufficiently low, which is essen-
tially obtained by the correct choice of metal.
To calculate absorption (A), reflection (R) and transmission (T) must be calculated
and then absorption can be obtained from the A=1-R-T formula. In the present sec-
tion, TMM is used for these calculations, and the results are verified by FDTD simu-
lations and circuit theory calculations. It should be noted that, for a sufficiently thick
bottom metal layer, T is almost zero and, therefore, the absorption is simplified to
A=1-R. To be more precise, however, we include T in our calculations.
2.2.1 Material Optimizations
In this part, the effect of dielectric material and the metal is investigated and the op-
timized materials are chosen among them.
10
Figure 2.1: (a) 3D schematic of the proposed MIM structure, (b) cross section of the
structure in xz plane, (c) refractive index of four common dielectrics investigated in
the absorption calculations and, (d) calculated absorption spectrum of MIM structure.
Fig. 2.1 (c) shows the refractive index of four different common dielectrics: SiO2,
Al2O3, HfO2 and TiO2, and Fig. 2.1 (d) shows the calculated absorption spectrum of
MIM using the four mentioned dielectrics, while keeping the metal (Mn) and all di-
mensions constant. The thickness of the layers from bottom to top is 200, 65, and 5
nm, respectively. As expected, the absorption mode red-shifts as the refractive index
of the dielectric material increases. Since we have the possibility to deposit Al 2O3 by
Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) which deposits layers with lower roughness, the die-
lectric material is chosen to be Al2O3 for the rest of this work. It has to be mentioned
that based on previous explanations and as it will be demonstrated in detail in the fol-
lowing sections, this thickness of the insulator layer, 65 nm, has been chosen by using
Al2O3 to obtain high absorption in the desired bandwidth of 400-900 nm. It should be
noted that other dielectrics can also be used, considering the fact that in order to
achieve high absorption in the same wavelength band, the thickness of the dielectric
layer should be calculated accordingly and the optimized thickness for this layer will
be different from 65 nm.
11
In order to choose the most appropriate metal, as it will be elevated in detail in the
next parts, the input impedance of the structure should be calculated. Therefore, first
the calculation of the input impedance is explained. The input impedance of the pro-
posed three-layer structure is calculated by circuit theory.
The equivalent circuit of the structure is shown in Fig. 2.2 (a). At normal inci-
dence, βm and Zm are the propagation constant and characteristic impedance (normal-
ized to the impedance of free space) of the transmission line corresponding to the
metal layer and are equal to nmβ0 and 1/nm, respectively, with nm denoting the refrac-
tive index of the metal and β0 denoting the propagation constant of light in vacuum. βi
and Zi are similarly the corresponding parameters for the transmission line modeling
the insulator layer. Finally, Z0 is the normalized impedance of free space, which is
equal to 1. It is assumed in this model that both the top and bottom metal layers have
the same material, therefore, for both layers, the characteristic parameters are denoted
with the subscript of ‘m’.
To better understand the mechanism of the absorption, we simplify the equivalent

circuit by modeling the top thin metal layer with a surface conductivity, which is an
accurate approximation for ultra-thin layers [39]. The characteristic equivalent admit-
tance (surface conductivity) of the top layer (normalized to free space admittance) is
Ymt  j (1   m )dmt c (2.2)
where c is the free space speed of light and ω is the angular frequency. ɛm denotes the
relative permittivity of metal, and dmt represents the top metal layer thickness. The
above equation is obtained by approximating the bulk conductivity by surface con-
ductivity when the layer is ultra-thin. Then the value of equivalent admittance of that
layer is equal to the value of surface conductivity.
The second approximation is assuming the bottom metal layer thickness to be infi-
nite. Therefore, Z1 in Fig. 2.2(a) can be replaced by a load impedance of Zm. Thus, the
circuit model of the structure gets simplified into Fig. 2.2(b).
12
The input impedance seen from the interface of the top metal and the dielectric
layer which is denoted as Z2 in figures 2.2(a) and 2.2(b) can be written as [112]
Z m  jZi tan  i di 
Z 2  Zi (2.3)
Zi  jZ m tan  i di 
In this approach, the admittance of top Mn layer or Ymt is parallel to the equivalent
input admittance of the other two layers which is equal to the inverse of input imped-
ance of these two layers or Z2. The total input admittance then, is the sum of admit-
tances Ymt and Y2.
After calculating the input impedance (admittance) of the structure, the reflection
of the structure, can be calculated by the following formula
2
 Z 1 
R   in
 Z  1 
(2.4)
 in 
which is the well-known relation for reflection at the interface of two media with dif-
ferent impedances. Now, we approximate T to be zero, which is a very good approx-
imation for a sufficiently thick bottom layer. We show the accuracy of this approxi-
mation by calculating transmission in the next sections. Therefore, the absorption can
be simply calculated as A=1-R.
Now, for choosing the appropriate metal, we assume that the top and bottom metal
layers both are chosen as the same material. Then we try to find the best metal for the
structure. The material of metal layers plays the main role in determining the quality
factor of the cavity. For this purpose, we calculate the normalized input impedance of
the structure using circuit theory and then we equate it to the impedance of free space
(i.e. 1). This is the condition for having zero reflection. From there the permittivity of
the ideal metal can be calculated. Thereafter, the metal with the closest permittivity
profile to the ideal metal should be chosen. During this calculation, the dimensions
are 5, 65, and 200 nm, respectively and Al2O3 has been used as the insulator layer.
13
Figure 2.2: (a) Equivalent circuit of the MIM structure, (b) simplified equivalent cir-
cuit model of the MIM structure, (c) real and (d) imaginary part of permittivity of Mn
and the ideal metal, along with those of Ti, W, Cr, Pt, and Au that are commonly
reported metals for broadband absorption, (e) calculated absorption spectrum of the
MIM structure using metals mentioned in (c) and (d). (f) Real and imaginary part of
input impedance of the structure using Mn (black solid and dashed lines), normalized
to free-space impedance, and reflection calculated using circuit theory (red line).
14
The calculated real and imaginary parts of relative permittivity profile of the ideal
metal as well as some other metals are shown in Fig. 2.2 (c) and Fig. 2.2 (d), respec-
tively. The metals are Titanium (Ti), Tungsten (W), Platinum (Pt), Chromium (Cr),
and Gold (Au). Apart from Au, other metals are the candidates reported so far for
broadband absorption applications, especially for lithography-free structures. Au can
be used for broadband absorption in the case of patterning. The permittivities of the
above-mentioned metals are plotted in these figures along with Mn, for a fine com-
parison between their permittivity profile and the one for ideal metal. The permittivity
of the ideal metal is shown by black dashed lines in figures 2.2 (c) and (d). As it is
obvious from both figures 2.2 (c) and 2.2(d), Mn has the closest permittivity profile to
the ideal metal. It can be observed that the imaginary part of permittivity of the ideal
metal is very close to that of Mn, from 400 nm up to around 600 nm. On the other
hand, after 600 nm, up to the end of our desired spectrum, i.e., 900 nm, the real part
of permittivity of Mn is similar to the real part of permittivity of the ideal metal. This
demonstrates that Mn is the best candidate for our structure in our bandwidth of inter-
est. So we choose Mn for the rest of our work as the top and bottom layer metal. It
can be observed that around the calculated absorption peak wavelength, both the real
and imaginary parts of permittivity of Mn almost intersect with the one for ideal met-
al. The material data of Mn and Al2O3 shown here, and also used in all the simula-
tions and calculations, have been obtained by fitting spectroscopic data obtained from
ellipsometry measurements. Material data for all other metals except for Au are ob-
tained from Palik and for Au the data are obtained from Johnson and Christy.
Figure 2.2 (e) shows calculated absorption when the 5 different mentioned metals
are used, along with the case of using Mn. It is obviously notable that, as predicted,
Mn has the best absorption in terms of absorption strength and bandwidth at the same
time. This is due to the fact that using Mn provides a better and broader impedance
matching to free-space that leads to the minimization of reflection and trapping of
light in a broad spectrum. Figure 2.2 (f) shows the real and imaginary parts of the cal-
culated input impedance of the structure normalized to that of free-space, as well as
reflection calculated using equation (2.4). It can be seen from this figure that the rea-
son of having a broad dip in the reflection spectrum (broad absorption peak) of this
structure lies in the fact that the real part of input impedance is close to 1 in a broad
15
wavelength band, while the imaginary part of it is close to zero. This minimizes the
reflection and provides a broadband impedance matching to the free space.
Figure 2.3 (a) shows the input admittance of the structure. To have admittance
matching with free space, similar to impedance matching, the real part of input admit-
tance must be close to 1 and its imaginary part must be close to zero, which is the
case here as it can be seen from Fig. 2.3 (a). The admittance matching process reveals
better why Mn is such an appropriate metal for this structure. The real and imaginary
parts of the equivalent admittance of top Mn layer and the input admittance seen from
the dielectric and the top metal interface which is denoted as Y2 in Fig. 2.2 (b), are
shown in Fig. 2.3 (b). It is obvious that the real part of Y2 is around 0.5 within the
wavelength range of interest. The other required 0.5 of admittance for admittance
matching is provided with the admittance of top Mn layer, as it can be seen in the fig-
ure. Fig. 2.3 (a) shows that the real part of input admittance of the structure stays
around 1, but its imaginary part does not have such a behavior and its absolute value
grows by getting far from the resonance wavelength. This limits near-to-perfect ab-
sorption to around 400-900 nm. It can be seen from Fig. 2.3 (b) that the imaginary
part of admittance of the top Mn layer is around zero and, therefore, has almost no
contribution to admittance mismatch happening outside the bandwidth.
Figures 2.3 (c) and (d) show the real and imaginary part of relative permittivity of
Mn along with previously mentioned other 5 metals in a broad wavelength range be-
tween 400 and 2000 nm. By taking a look at these figures one can understand more
about the physical reason behind broadband absorptive behavior of Mn. Compared to
other metals, Mn has a very slowly changing real part of permittivity in the broad
range of 400-2000 nm, covering visible and NIR, which makes impedance matching
of the structure to that of free space easy. Its real part of permittivity has small values
in this broad spectrum, which leads to high field penetration; and, at the same time it
has a large imaginary part of permittivity that leads to high absorption. The lossy be-
havior of Mn results in a low quality factor Fabry-Perot MIM cavity. On the other
hand, some other metals such as Gold and Silver have a very narrowband MIM cavity
mode, because they are low loss metals.
16
Figure 2.3: (a) Total characteristic admittance of the structure, calculated by circuit
theory, (b) characteristic admittance of top Mn layer modelled as surface conductivity
and characteristic input admittance of other two layers looking from top of Al2O3
(denoted as Y2 in Fig. 2.2 (b)), (c) real and (d) imaginary part of permittivity of Mn
along with those of the other 5 metals, extended up to 2000 nm wavelength.
So far, we have thoroughly investigated the effect of materials and highlighted the
importance of the choice of metals. The above discussions show what a great poten-
tial Mn has to be employed in broadband absorption structures, even in higher wave-
length ranges. Unlike its high potential, it has not been employed in absorbers so far.
Therefore, we choose Mn for metal layers and Al2O3 as the dielectric layer for the
structure, and proceed to the optimization of dimensions in the following section.
17
2.2.2 Dimension Optimization
As explained in the previous parts of this section, by increasing the thickness of the
insulator layer, the optical path of the light inside the structure increases and the ab-
sorption band experiences a red-shift (see equation 2.1). One way to tailor the optical
beam path (nidi) is changing the dielectric material that indeed changes ni in equation
2.1 that was explained in the previous section. The other method is the control of di.
Figure 2.4: Calculated absorption spectrum of MIM structure for the different values
of di with (a) 20 nm steps and, (b) 5 nm steps, while Mn is assumed as the metal and
the top layer thickness is dmt = 5 nm, (c) calculated absorption spectrum of MIM
structure for different values of dmt and, (d) average absorption for different values of
dmt calculated in the 400–900 nm wavelength range, again Mn is assumed as the
metal and the thickness of the dielectric layer is di = 65 nm.
Fig. 2.4 (a) demonstrates the effect of the thickness of the insulator layer on the ab-
sorption spectrum. It can be observed that by choosing thicker dielectrics, the absorp-
tion band red-shifts. Among the calculated absorptions for different dielectric thick-
18
nesses, the one for 60 nm matches our desired spectrum, i.e. the visible range and
some parts of NIR. For finely tuning the dielectric thickness, absorption spectrum has
been calculated for different di values of 60, 65, and 70 nm as shown in Fig. 2.4 (b).
As it can be seen from Fig. 2.4 (b), in the case of choosing 60 nm, the absorption
strength will decrease in NIR range and, on the other hand, by choosing 70 nm as the
dielectric thickness, absorption strength decreases in shorter wavelengths of visible
range; but in the case of 65 nm, the best overall absorption strength and almost per-
fect absorption is obtained within the broad range of 400 nm to 900 nm wavelength.
Therefore, di is chosen to be 65 nm.
Now, to choose the best thickness for the top metal layer or dmt, absorption for dif-
ferent values of dmt ranging from 3 to 11 nm has been calculated and is shown in Fig.
2.4 (c). It is obvious that the 5 nm is the best thickness for the top layer because it has
the strongest and broadest response compared to the other dmt values. Fig. 2.4 (d) il-
lustrates the average absorption calculated in the 400 to 900 nm wavelength range
versus dmt, again demonstrating that 5 nm is the best choice for the top layer thick-
ness.
To investigate the fabrication tolerance of the structure, which is a very important

factor for mass production purposes, we have calculated the absorption of the struc-
ture for varying di versus wavelength and also for varying dmt versus wavelength as
shown in Fig. 2.5 (a) and (b), respectively. These color-plots show that deviations
from optimal dimensions in the order of a few nanometers do not affect the absorp-
tion bandwidth and strength, significantly.
As for the bottom layer, there is no optimization needed and it is only necessary to
be thick enough so that it almost completely blocks the transmission.
Fig. 2.5 (c) depicts the transmission for different thicknesses and varying wave-
length and gives a good insight about this issue. There is a slight increase in transmis-
sion toward higher wavelengths that is due to the decrease of the optical path inside
the material which leads to reduction of absorption of the light passing through it. Fig.
2.5 (d) shows the maximum and average transmission in the range of 400-900 nm
versus Mn thickness. It is obvious that maximum transmission remains below 1 per-
19
cent for thicknesses down to around 100 nm. Based on these figures, we conserva-
tively set the thickness of the bottom Mn layer to 200 nm.
Figure 2.5: (a) Calculated absorption of MIM structure versus the wavelength and
different values of di, assuming Mn as the metal with dmt = 5 nm and Al2O3 as the
dielectric, (b) same as (a) but for different values of dmt and with di = 65 nm, (c)
calculated transmission from a layer of Mn versus wavelength and different
thicknesses of Mn layer and, (d) maximum and average values of transmission from a
layer of Mn versus Mn thickness, calculated in the 400-900 nm wavelength range.
To summarize, the optimized structure is as follows: The dielectric is chosen to be

Al2O3 and the metal is Mn. The dimensions of 5, 65 and 200 nm are chosen for the
top metallic layer, dielectric insulator, and the bottom thick metal layer, respectively.
In the next section, we present the experimental results for this structure.
20
2.3 Results and Discussion
The structure with optimized dimensions was fabricated and characterized. In order to
avoid any contribution from the substrate to the absorption, and also to be able to
measure the transmission of MIM, the structure has been fabricated on a transparent
Sapphire substrate. Fig. 2.6 (a) shows the measured transmission, reflection and ab-
sorption of the structure for the case of normal incidence. The experimental result for
absorption demonstrates over 94 percent average absorption in the broad range of
400-900 nm and has absorption as high as 99.6 percent at the wavelength of 626.4
nm. The image of the fabricated absorber is shown in the inset of Fig. 2.6 (a) which
demonstrates the black color of the absorber due to the strong absorption of the visi-
ble light. Moreover, as expected, the measurements confirm that the structure has ze-
ro transmission.
The experimental results are compared against simulation results calculated with
the circuit model, TMM and FDTD, in Fig. 2.6 (b). It is obvious that the simulation
and experimental results are in good agreement. The insignificant mismatch between
the simulation and experimental results may be due to using different deposition rates
for the top and bottom metal layers (see Methods, Experimental). The permittivity
profile of Mn has been extracted from a film deposited by the same rate as the bottom
metal. Therefore, since using different deposition rates may affect the grain size
which may consequently affect the optical properties, the optical properties of the top
metal layer may be slightly different. However, this possible difference in the optical
properties must have been insignificant because of the negligible mismatch between
theory and experiment. Other possible causes may be variations in the thickness of
the layers and also imperfections in the roughness of the top layer since it is very thin
and it is hard to obtain ultra-thin metallic layers with no roughness while using physi-
cal vapor deposition methods. However, for broadband absorbers, roughness is a
positive characteristic and contributes to the strength and also the broadening of the
absorption because it leads to having the superposition of various modes in the ab-
sorption.
21
Now let us investigate the performance of the fabricated structure for oblique inci-
dence and to show that it has an omnidirectional performance, which is very im-
portant in different applications. We measured the absorption of the structure for both
TM and TE polarizations and for angles ranging from 20 to 70 degrees. Figures 2.6
(c) and 2.6 (d) show the absorption of the structure for the mentioned incident angles
in the wavelength range of 400 to 900 nm, for TM and TE polarizations, respectively.
It is obvious that the device retains its high and broadband absorption performance up
to very large incident angles such as 70 degrees for TM polarization. However, the
TE polarization is more sensitive to the variations of incident angle. Note that the
range of y-axis is different for figures 2.6 (c) and 2.6 (d).
Figure 2.6: (a) Measured reflection, transmission and absorption spectrum of the
fabricated MIM structure, inset: image of the fabricated sample, (b) comparison of
simulation and calculation methods with measurement for the absorption spectrum of
the optimal MIM structure, and, measured absorption of the MIM structure with
different angles of incidence ranging from 20 to 70 degrees, for (c) TM and (d) TE
polarizations of incident light. Note that y-axis range is different between (c) and (d).
22
To further elucidate the electromagnetic phenomena taking place in this structure,
the electric field distribution inside the structure for the wavelength range of interest
(400-900 nm) is depicted in Fig. 2.7 (a). Since the structure is not changing in the lat-
eral direction, we have only depicted the vertical spatial variation of the field inside
the structure. It is obvious that a cavity resonance mode is trapped inside the structure
in the dielectric region and back and forth reflections from the top and bottom metal-
lic layers lead to a standing wave inside it.
Figure 2.7: Simulated (a) electric field intensity and (b) absorption distribution in the
cross section of the optimal MIM structure as a function of wavelength, (c)
contribution of top and bottom metal layers in the light absorption and, (d) SEM
image of the cross section of the fabricated MIM structure, milled by FIB
To better observe the contribution of each layer to absorption, the absorption in-
tensity in different layers in the structure versus wavelength is shown in fig. 2.7 (b). It
can be seen that the absorption intensity is high at the top metal, but it is accumulated
in a thin layer. In the bottom metal, on the other hand, the absorption intensity is low-
23
er compared to the top metal, but it is distributed in a thicker layer. To evaluate the
total contribution of each layer to absorption, Fig. 2.7 (c) shows the percentage of to-
tal absorption in each metallic layer, versus wavelength. It can be observed that the
contribution of the top and bottom metallic layers is not significantly different. As can
be seen in both figures 2.7 (b) and (c), at lower wavelengths, the bottom layer has a
larger contribution to the absorption and the absorption of the top metal layer increas-
es at longer wavelengths. Finally, the Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) image of
the cross section of the fabricated sample, which is milled by Focused Ion Beam
(FIB) is shown in Fig. 2.7 (d).
2.4 Conclusion
Step-by-step design and optimization of a broadband MIM absorber is presented, ge-

ometrically and in terms of materials. The important advantage of this absorber is the
use of three large area layers without any need to lithography or any repetition of MI
pairs, which makes this absorber as simple as possible. It has high absorption within
the whole visible range and going into the NIR region. Achieving such a response
with such a simple structure is very promising for mass production. We have used
and introduced Mn for the first time as the metal layer in a broadband absorber. We
have shown that Mn is a promising material for broadband absorption by investigat-
ing its permittivity profile. We have shown that its complex permittivity profile is
very close to that of the ideal metal for achieving perfect impedance matching to that
of free space in our wavelength range of interest (400-900 nm). It was shown experi-
mentally that the structure has an omni-directional response up to angles as large as
70 degrees, for both TE and TM polarizations. This section proved that Mn has great
potential in broadband absorption structures and their deriving applications.
24
2.5 Methods
2.5.1 Experimental
For the fabrication of the structure, first, a typical commercial square-shaped trans-
parent Sapphire wafer with 100 mm2 area has been cleaned with Piranha solution, de-
ionized water, Acetone, and Isopropanol, and then has been dried with N2 flow, to be
used as the substrate. Then, a 200 nm Mn film has been coated on it using VAKSIS
Thermal Evaporator in the chamber pressure of 3e-6 to 5e-6 Torr and with the rate of
0.5 A/s. After that, 65 nm Al2O3 has been coated using H2O and Al(CH3)3 as precur-
sors at 200°C in an ALD reactor (Cambridge Nanotech Savannah S100). Finally, 5
nm Mn has been coated on the structure as the top metal layer using the same Ther-
mal Evaporator as for the bottom layer, at the same chamber pressure and with the
rate of 0.1 A/s. For characterization, a home-made fiber optic based reflectometer
setup has been used for measuring the reflection at normal incidence up to the wave-
length of 850 nm. For wavelengths above 850 nm, measurement of the reflection at
normal incidence has been carried out using Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FTIR,
Bruker). Reflection measurements with angled incidence and for different polariza-
tions, transmission measurements, and material characterizations for permittivity ex-
traction have been done using J.A. Woollam Co. Inc. VASE Ellipsometer.
2.5.2 TMM Calculations
The calculations of the TMM method have been carried out by dividing the total elec-
tromagnetic wave inside each layer into sum of two waves each going in opposite di-
rections, forward and backward, both of which are perpendicular to the interface of
layers. Figure 2.1(a) depicts the 3D schematic of the structure and Fig. 2.1 (b) shows
the cross section of the structure in xz plane. The structure is infinite in x and y direc-
tions and z axis is toward top to bottom, perpendicular to the interfaces of layers. The
total electric field (Ei) and magnetic field (Hi) inside each layer can be written as:
25
Ei  Ei e ji z  Ei e  ji z
(2.5a)
H i  H ie j i z  H ie j i z (2.5b)
where the subscript ‘i’ corresponds to the number of layer, which is a number from 0
to 4 (see Fig. 2.1 (b)), from top to bottom (including free space at both top and bottom
sides of the structure with numbers of 0 and 4, respectively), Ei+ and Ei- correspond to
the amplitude of the waves traveling forward (+z) and backward (-z), respectively. βi
is the complex propagation constant inside ith layer which is equal to ω(ɛiµi)1/2 with ω
being the angular frequency, ɛi being the complex permittivity and µi being the com-
plex permeability of the layer. µi is equal to permeability of free-space in the case of
the materials we have used in this work (non-magnetic materials).
In order to relate the amplitudes in layer 0 (incident wave) to layer 4 (transmitted

wave), we must multiply the interface and propagation matrices with the appropriate
sequence. The propagation matrix of ith layer, named as Pi, is the matrix which stands
for the propagation of the wave inside ith layer and transforms the field amplitudes at
one end of the layer into another end, by multiplying them with their corresponding
propagation coefficients, and is written as below for the ith layer:
 E(zi )   E(zi1 ) 
    Pi    (2.6)
 E( z )   E( z ) 
 i   i1 
 e j i di 0 
Pi    (2.7)
 0 e  j i di 
where di is the thickness of ith layer and zi is the position on z axis at the end of the
layer, as depicted in Fig. 2.1 (b).
To relate the field amplitudes in two sides of interface, boundary conditions should
be imposed. Since the structure is symmetric in the xy plane, there is no difference
between TM and TE waves in normal incidence and even one can assume the wave to
be TEM. Without any loss of generality, We suppose the electric field to be in the +x
26
direction and, therefore, using the right hand rule, considering the fact that propaga-
tion is in the +z direction, the magnetic field has to be in the +y direction. Therefore,
boundary conditions are indeed tangential boundary conditions that convey the conti-
nuity of electric and magnetic fields as follows:
( Ei  Ei )  ( Ei1  Ei1 ) (2.8a)

z  zi z  zi
( H i  H i )  ( H i1  H i1 ) (2.8b)

z  zi z  zi
By substituting H using the relation H = (n/Zo)E that holds between the electric
and magnetic field, in which Z0 is the impedance of free-space, and using the right
hand rule, and after doing a few simplifications, equation (2.8b) evolves into the fol-
lowing equation:
(ni Ei  ni Ei )  (ni 1 Ei1  ni 1 Ei1 ) (2.9)

z  zi z  zi
Now, by having two equations of (2.8a) and (2.9) between electric fields in both
sides of interface, we can write interface matrix named as Ii,i+1 which relates fields in
two sides of the interface of ith and (i+1)th layers, as follows:
 ni 1  ni ni 1  ni 
 2n 2ni 1 
Ii ,i 1   
i 1
(2.10)
 ni 1  ni ni 1  ni 
 
 2ni 1 2ni 1 
where
 Ei1   Ei 
    Ii ,i 1    (2.11)
E 
 Ei 1  z  zi  i  z  zi
27
Therefore, the relation between the field amplitudes of the 0th layer and 4th layer is
in the form of
 E4   E0 
    3,4   3   2,3   2   1,2   1   0,1    
 I P I P I P I (2.12)
 E4   E0 
Then, we take E0+ equal to 1 as the amplitude of the incident wave, and set E4- to
zero, since there is no backward propagating wave in free-space at the bottom of the
structure, because of no reflecting interface after it. Therefore, there will be 2 knowns
(E0+ and E4-) and two unknowns (E0- and E4+) that are related to each other by two
equations generated from a 2 by 2 matrix.
Now, T and R of the MIM structure can be calculated as follows:
2 2
E0 E4
R  T  (2.13)
E0 E0
2.5.3 FDTD Simulations
FDTD simulations are carried out by employing Lumerical FDTD Solutions which is
a commercial FDTD software package [113]. The simulations are done in a 2D simu-
lation environment in the xy plane and a unit cell with 200 nm length in the x-
direction is employed to define the structure. Boundary conditions are set to Periodic
in the x axis boundaries and y axis boundaries are defined as Perfectly Matched Layer
(PML). The structure is excited by a plane wave in the –y direction and a linear pow-
er monitor behind the source records the data of R. There is another linear power
monitor on the other side of the structure that records T.
28
Chapter 3
Random Nanoholes for Broadband

Absorption
3.1 Introduction
In this section, through annealing the MIM structure, we experimentally obtain over
94% average absorption in the ultra-wide range of 450-1400 nm that is a very promis-
ing result for a simple tri-layer lithography-free absorber. It is shown that annealing
the sample leads to more than a twofold enhancement in the absorption bandwidth.
We show that this is due to the fact that, after annealing, the top layer deforms into a
metal-air composite with randomly sized, distributed and shaped nanoholes that sup-
port different Localized Surface Plasmon (LSP) resonance modes. The collective ef-
fect of the resonances of all random nanoholes leads to a significant absorption en-
hancement. The other feature contributing to such a broad absorption by such a sim-
ple structure is the optical properties of Mn that makes it an excellent candidate for
broadband absorbers [114]. We experimentally demonstrate the absorption results for
both cases of before and after annealing, and for a variety of incidence angles at both
polarizations. This structure can serve as a very good candidate for large-area produc-
tion of cost-effective absorbers covering a wide range of applications.
29
Let us start with investigating the physical mechanism of the MIM resonant absorb-
ers. Figure 3.1(a) demonstrates the schematic of the MIM configuration. The thick-
ness of the layers from top to bottom is denoted as dt, di, and db. The top layer must
be optically thin enough to allow an appropriate portion of the incident beam pene-
trate into the cavity, and eventually get coupled to the cavity resonance mode. The
resonant wave of the cavity for which the Fabry-Perot resonance condition is satis-
fied, will bounce back and forth between the top and bottom metallic layers. In each
reflection a portion of the resonating wave is absorbed, which eventually leads to the
perfect absorption of the light trapped inside the cavity. The Fabry-Perot resonance
condition is as follows [115]:
 2 
2  ni di  b  t  2 m (3.1)
 res 
where λres, ni,, φb, φt, m denote the resonance wavelength, refractive index of the die-
lectric material, phase-shift due to the reflection from the bottom metal, phase-shift
due to the reflection from the top metal, and an integer number corresponding to the
resonance order, respectively. The term nidi is the optical beam path traveled by the
beam trapped inside the cavity, in each half-round of a full round-trip. Moreover, in
our earlier work [15], it is shown in-detail how to calculate the φb and φt parame-
ters. It can be observed from the equation that nidi (or the dielectric layer) mainly de-
termines the spectral location of the absorption band, i.e. λres,. It is noteworthy that
typically, dielectric oxides such as SiO2, Al2O3, HfO2, and TiO2 have an almost con-
stant refractive index in our desired wavelength range (visible and NIR). This means
that for fixed metal layers, one can almost freely choose the dielectric material which
determines ni, and accordingly adjust the value of di. to obtain the desired beam path
inside the cavity, and consequently determine the absorption band location.
Since we can freely choose the dielectric oxide as explained above, we have cho-
sen to use Al2O3. The main reason for this choice is that this oxide can be coated us-
ing the atomic layer deposition (ALD) method. ALD devices perform atomic layer-
by-layer depositions that in comparison with the physical evaporation-based deposi-
30
tion methods, result in much more conformal thin films. Moreover, by using this
method, we have control over each atomic layer of the depositing material which pro-
vides us with a very high precision in obtaining the desired thickness [116]. It is
noteworthy that the material and the thickness of the bottom and top metal layers also
determine the values of φb and φt, respectively, thus affecting λres.
In the previous section, it was experimentally demonstrated that Mn has a superior

performance in the MIM broadband absorbers compared to the other appropriate can-
didates for broadband absorption including Cr, Pt, Ti, and W [114]. It was explained
that this is due to the fact that Mn has a small real part of permittivity which leads to
high field penetration and has a large imaginary part of permittivity which is the
cause of strong absorption. Therefore, Mn is chosen for both metal layers in our MIM
configuration. In addition, unlike expensive metals such as Platinum, Gold, or Silver,
Mn is an economically cost-effective and environmentally-friendly metal which has
the potential to be used for the large-scale and mass production of this device [117].
Both the circuit model and FDTD simulations have confirmed that, to have strong
absorption in the desired wavelength range that starts from visible and exceeds to
NIR, for the case of using Mn and Al2O3, the optimal dimensions are as dt = 5 nm and
di = 70 nm. However, in the previous section, it has been shown in detail that the ab-
sorption of the broadband MIM structure has a good fabrication tolerance for relative-
ly small changes in the value of di [114]. The bottom layer only needs to be suffi-
ciently thick enough to block any transmission so that we have conservatively chosen
db = 200 nm. Absorption (A) in the general case is calculated from A=1-R-T where R
and T denote the reflection and transmission, respectively. In our case, T is zero so
the absorption can be simply calculated from A=1-R.
The measured and calculated absorption spectrum of the absorber before annealing, at
normal incidence is shown in Fig. 3.1(b). The calculations are carried out using the
circuit model, the details of which can be found in [114]. The refractive index values
31
of Al2O3 and Mn used in the calculations are obtained by fitting the spectroscopic da-
ta from ellipsometry measurements. It can be observed that the calculations are in
good agreement with the experimental results. The structure experimentally gives
above 94% average absorption in the broad range of 450-900 nm. The scanning elec-
tron microscope (SEM) image of the cross-section of the structure milled by focusing
ion beam (FIB) is shown in the inset of Fig. 3.1(b). Measured absorptions for TM and
TE polarizations with oblique incidence are also shown in Figs. 3.1(c,d), respectively.
Figure 3.1: (a) Schematic of the MIM absorber, (b) Measured and circuit theory-
based calculated absorption of the structure for normal incidence, inset: SEM image
of the cross-section of the fabricated MIM absorber, milled by FIB; the white scale
bar represents 200 nm. The measured absorption spectra with different angles of inci-
dence for (c) TM and (d) TE polarization. All of the figures correspond to the MIM
sample before annealing.
32
In order to obtain randomly sized and distributed nanoholes in the top metal layer
that can support LSP resonances which lead to the absorption enhancement, we can
use the dewetting method [118, 119]. Dewetting is a lithography-free process in
which the ultra-thin metallic layers get annealed at high temperatures to obtain nano-
patterns (nanoholes or nanoislands, based on the annealing recipe) in them. The ran-
domness of the size, shape, and distribution of the nanoholes leads to the existence of
various LSP modes with different spectral positions, the superposition of which, con-
tributes to the broadening of the absorption band.
To obtain nanoholes in the top thin Mn layer, we performed the dewetting process
on our fabricated MIM samples by examining different annealing recipes. The best
result, which is presented in this letter, belongs to the case of annealing the sample for
5 minutes at a temperature of 500°C. The rise time to reach that temperature was
fixed to 5 minutes and the temperature falling time (sample cooling period) was set to
1 minute. It is noteworthy that annealing at lower temperatures resulted in an insignif-
icant absorption enhancement, and higher temperatures led to losing the absorption
strength compared to the best annealing recipe. The SEM images of the top view of
the MIM sample before and after annealing are shown in Fig. 3.2(a). It can be clearly
observed that there is a high randomness in the size, shape, and distribution of the na-
noholes. The measured absorption spectrum of the annealed sample for the case of
normal incidence is shown in Fig. 3.2(b). For the purpose of a clear visualization of
the absorption band broadening, the measured absorption spectrum of the sample be-
fore annealing is also included in this figure. It can be seen that the absorption band
has experienced a significant enhancement compared to before annealing. The ab-
sorption has above 94% average value in the broad wavelength range spanning from
450 to 1400 nm. Therefore, compared to before annealing, the upper limit of the ab-
sorption band of above 94% average absorption, is increased from 900 to 1400 nm,
while the lower wavelength limit is fixed at 450 nm, i.e. a 500 nm or over twofold
bandwidth enhancement is experimentally achieved. The measured average absorp-
tion in the same range of 450-1400 nm was 83% before annealing. Such an achieve-
ment is obtained by only adding a simple and high-throughput annealing stage to the
fabrication process. The normal incidence reflection measurements are carried out
using a reflectometer and fiber optical cable-based home-made setup for up to 900
nm wavelength, and for larger wavelengths, measurements are done by a Fourier
33
transform infrared (FTIR, Bruker) device. Inset of Fig. 3.2(b) shows the image of the
annealed fabricated sample which appears with black color due to the strong light ab-
sorption.
Figures 3.2 (c,d) demonstrate the measured absorption for oblique incidence when the
incident wave is TM and TE polarized, respectively. It can be observed that the ab-
sorption band for oblique incidence has also experienced a significant enhancement
Figure 3.2: (a) SEM images taken from the surface of the MIM sample, before and
after annealing; the white scale bar represents 2 microns. (b) measured absorption of
the sample before (red line) and after (blue line) annealing for the case of normal in-
cidence, and, for different angles of incidence in the cases of (c) TM and (d) TE po-
larizations. Inset of (b) shows the image of the annealed fabricated sample.
by annealing. The results show that, for the TM polarization, the absorption remains
high for large angles up to 70 degrees, while for the TE polarization, the structure al-
most loses its high absorption performance after 50 degrees. In other words, the over-
all behavior of the structure for oblique incidence indicates that the structure has very
low incidence angle sensitivity, especially for the TM polarization.
34
To observe the physical mechanism behind this broadband absorption, the SEM
image of the annealed structure is imported into the Lumerical FDTD solver software
[113] and the simulation is performed by defining it as the top layer. A square area of
1 ϻm2 from the SEM image is chosen for the simulation, and the periodic boundary
conditions are defined in the both x and y directions. It is noteworthy that the new
value for the thickness of the top layer can be approximated as dann = (dt /f), where f =
0.8 is the filling factor of the metal in the top layer’s metal-air composite that is cal-
culated from the taken SEM images. Therefore, since dt = 0.8, the value of dann is cal-
culated and considered as 6.25 nm in the FDTD simulations of the annealed structure.
This is due to the fact that because of the appearance of the nanoholes, we can assume
with some approximations that the top layer’s thickness has increased in average.
Figures 3.3(a,b,c) demonstrate the magnitude of the magnetic field, electric field, and
absorption intensity, respectively. The field monitor is placed in the xy-plane cross-
section at center of the top layer, with regards to the z-axis, and simulation results are
shown for the four different wavelengths of 600, 800, 1000, and 1200 nm.
Magnetic field patterns shown in Fig. 3.3(a) provide a clear explanation for the
role of random nanoholes in absorption band enhancement. As can be seen, the field
gets localized, enhanced, and confined inside the nanoholes, which is demonstrative
of LSP mode excitations. It can be observed that for the cases of different wave-
lengths, different nanoholes with different sizes get excited. To explain this phenom-
enon, relatively large and observable nanoholes are numbered from 1 to 5 in Fig.
3.3(a). It can be seen that for instance, at the wavelength of 600 nm, mainly nano-
holes 2, 4, and 5 get excited and field localization at the other nanoholes is not as
strong as these ones. On the other hand, for the wavelength of 1000 nm, mainly nano-
holes 1 and 3 get excited. Therefore, as mentioned above, at any chosen wavelength
in the absorption band, specific nanoholes with specific sizes get excited, and as the
wavelength increases, it is observable that larger sized nanoholes get excited, which is
in total agreement with the nature of LSP resonance modes [120]. Consequently, the
superposition and collective effects of all randomly-sized nanoholes existing in the
top metallic layer lead to a significant absorption band widening in a broad wave-
length range.
35
It can be observed from the electric field magnitude pattern in Fig. 3.3(b) that there
is a field localization and enhancement in the nanohole edges for all wavelengths. As
will be clearly explained later, such a field localization at the nanoholes edges which
include metal-air interfaces, leads to an absorption enhancement at these points.
The absorption intensity patterns shown in Fig. 3.3(c) are calculated using the fol-
lowing formula:
Pabs  0.5 E imag ( ) (3.2)

2
where ω is the angular frequency, ∣E∣ is the electric field magnitude, and ɛ is the per-
mittivity of the material. It is obvious that the absorption will be zero for the air re-
gions inside the nanoholes, and for a constant wavelength, i.e. constant ω, the absorp-
tion intensity in the metallic parts with the same metal will only be a function of ∣E∣2.
Figure 3.3: (a) Magnetic field magnitude, (b) electric field magnitude, and (c) ab-
sorption intensity distribution of on the xy cross-section of the center of the top metal
layer of the annealed structure, simulated by importing the SEM image of the sample
into the Lumerical FDTD solver.
36
This is the reason why the absorption intensity patterns of the metallic parts in Fig.
3.3(c) are relatively similar to the electric field magnitude patterns in Fig. 3.3(b), ex-
cept with the explained differences. It can be clearly observed that a significant ab-
sorption enhancement happens at the hotspots of the edges of the nanoholes on the
top layer which is the result of field localizations due to the excitation of LSPs, shown
in Fig. 3.3(a).
3.4 Conclusion
In summary, an ultra-broadband tri-layer MIM absorber is fabricated and character-

ized. We have shown that, through annealing, an above 94% average absorption is
experimentally achieved in the wide range of 450-1400 nm, which is a very promis-
ing result compared to the simplicity of the structure. It is explained that this is due to
the deformation of the top layer into metal-air composite that includes random nano-
holes with the potential of supporting different of LSP resonance. Moreover, it is
shown that at different wavelengths, different nanoholes get excited and a collective
effect of all nanoholes contributes to such a significant absorption enhancement. It is
experimentally demonstrated that this absorber has very low angle sensitivity for the
TM polarization up to 70 degrees, and for the TE polarization up to 50 degrees. The
structure is lithography-free and cost-effective, so it is a perfect candidate for large-
area production and utilization in photovoltaic and solar cell applications.
37
Chapter 4
Patterned MIM Embedded with Ul-

tra-Thin Manganese Film
This chapter is on part reprinted with permission from: Majid Aalizadeh, A.

Khavasi, A. E. Serebryannikov, G. A. E. Vandenbosch, and E. Ozbay, “A Route to
Unusually Broadband Plasmonic Absorption Spanning from Visible to Mid-infrared,”
Plasmonics, 2019.
4.1 Introduction
One of the commonly used absorber structures is the MIM structure, in which the top
metal layer is patterned using lithography. In one of the recent works, Au-SiO2-Ti
configuration is used in the MIM structure, and the top Ti layer is patterned as a peri-
odic array of nanodisks [36]. The high absorption band in that structure is extended
over the wavelength range of 900 to 1,825 nm with a 71% percent relative bandwidth
that is defined as the ratio of the high absorption bandwidth to the center wavelength.
In this section, we show that, by embedding an ultra-thin 5 nm layer of Mn into the

dielectric layer of a typical top-layer-patterned MIM structure (with a 2D array of
nanodisks on the top), an ultra-broadband, nearly perfect absorption (absorption
greater than 0.9) can be obtained over the wavelength range of 478 to 3,278 nm. The
bandwidth and relative bandwidth of the proposed structure are 2,800 nm and 149%,
38
respectively, and the absorption band extends over the visible, NIR, and MIR regions.
This is, to our knowledge, the best result obtained for such absorbers with one-stage-
lithography. The absorption band of the MIM structure without the ultra-thin Mn lay-
er covers the two adjacent ranges of 478 to 526 and 610 to 836 nm that is equivalent
to 274 nm of total bandwidth. Therefore, adding a thin layer of Mn, leads to a 10.1
fold increase in the bandwidth, without adding much complexity or lithography stage
to the fabrication process. A step-by-step dimension and material optimization proce-
dure is presented. We investigate different types of metals in order to find the most
appropriate ones for an ultra-wideband absorber. We also consider the effect of the
dimensions of the structure on the absorption bandwidth. Then, the physical mecha-
nisms that lead to strong absorption in different wavelength ranges are discussed. In
particular, we discuss the importance of the 5 nm Mn layer for the significant increase
of the bandwidth of the structure. This is while Mn has not been given the attention it
deserves for the use in broadband absorbers. Mn was used for the first and, up to now,
the only time in a broadband absorber structure that was recently fabricated in our
group, and it led to a very promising result compared to other metals [114]. Moreo-
ver, we demonstrate the high fabrication tolerance of the proposed structure. Finally,
we explore the effect of polarization and incidence angle. Numerical results are ob-
tained using the finite difference time domain (FDTD) method by Lumerical FDTD
software [113], and the results are verified by regenerating them using the finite inte-
gration technique (FIT) by CST Microwave Studio [121].
It is worth mentioning that, because of requiring just one-step lithography, the

large-area fabrication of the proposed structure can be realized by the use of the
standard nanoimprint lithography technique [122]. This is very beneficial for mass
and high-throughput production purposes.
39
4.2.1 Proposed Structure
The schematic of the proposed absorber is shown in Fig. 4.1. It consists of an MIM
structure with the top and bottom metal layers being chosen as Ti, and Al2O3 being
used as the dielectric layer, and with the top Ti layer being patterned to obtain a peri-
odic array of nanodisks, while an ultra-thin, 5 nm layer of Mn is embedded into the
dielectric layer. As shown in Figs. 4.1(a-c), the period, height of nanodisks, radius of
nanodisks, thickness of the Mn layer, the distance between the bottom metal and the
top nanodisks, and the distance between the bottom metal and the Mn layer, are de-
noted by p, h, r, tMn, di and dMn, respectively. The bottom metal layer is expected to be
sufficiently thick to block transmission. The perspective description of the proposed
absorber is shown in Fig. 4.1(d). In this view, the 5 nm Mn layer can be considered as
a perturbation that is introduced to the patterned MIM configuration of Ti-Al2O3-Ti.
This is while, as it will be elevated in the forthcoming sections, the effect of this ultra-
thin Mn layer is drastically significant in the enhancement and broadening of the
nearly perfect absorption band. The optimized dimensions for the structure, according
to Fig. 4.1, will be obtained in the next sections. They are equal to 480, 140, 180, 165,
5, and 135 nm for p, r, h, di, tMn, and dMn, respectively. The thickness of the bottom
metal layer is conservatively chosen to be 200 nm to ensure nearly zero transmission.
It should be mentioned that this choice of metals is the result of simulating all the
possible combinations of several metals (which are conventionally used in broadband
absorbers) in the proposed structure, and performing a thorough study on the results.
These metals include Chromium (Cr), Tungsten (W), Platinum (Pt), and Iron (Fe), in
addition to Ti and Mn.
4.2.2 Material Optimizations
In order to demonstrate the effect of the choice of materials on the performance of the
device and optimize the structure in terms of materials, the absorption spectra have
been simulated. The results are shown in Figs. 4.2(a), (b), (c), and (d) for the case of
40
only changing the material of the dielectric layer, bottom metal layer, top nanodisks,
and the 5 nm ultra-thin middle layer, respectively. All of the other materials and di-
mensions of the structure were kept unchanged. The thin horizontal dashed line in
Fig. 4.2 corresponds to 90 percent absorption. The refractive index data of all the
metals except Mn, along with Al2O3 and SiO2 are taken from [123], and the refrac-
tive index data of Mn, HfO2, and TiO2 are taken from [124], [125], and [126], re-
spectively. Our purpose here is to choose the configuration that gives the widest band,
while the bandwidth (BW) is defined as BW = λmax - λmin, where λmax and λmin are the
upper and lower wavelength limits of the region in which absorption is above 90%.
The absorption (A) in general case can be obtained given the values of reflection (R)
and transmission (T), using the formula A=1-R-T, where R=|r|2 and T=|t|2 with r and t
being reflection and transmission coefficients, respectively. However, since the bot-
tom metallic layer is sufficiently thick to suppress any transmission (200 nm), the ab-
sorption formula simplifies to A=1-R.
Figure 4.1: (a) Left plot: 3D schematic of the absorber; one unit cell of the structure is
bounded by dashed lines; right plot: a magnified view of one unit cell. (b) Top view,
and (c) side view of the structure; and (d) the other image of the unit cell of the stud-
ied structure (perspective view): a patterned MIM configuration with top periodic
41
layer composed of metal nanodisks, plus an ultra-thin Mn layer embedded into the
insulator of the original configuration.
Let us first consider the effect of dielectric material on the absorption spectrum.
The dielectrics chosen to be used in this investigation are SiO2, Al2O3, HfO2, and
TiO2, which are listed from smaller to larger refractive indices, respectively. It can be
observed in Fig. 4.2(a) that by choosing dielectrics with higher refractive index, al-
most all the absorption peaks experience a red-shift. This is already expected to hap-
pen because of the nature of the resonance modes [20]. This figure demonstrates that
the best bandwidth is obtained for the case of using Al2O3 as the dielectric material.
For the case of changing the materials of the bottom metal and the top nanodisks, as
shown in Figs. 4.2(b) and (c), respectively, it can be noticed that the absorption does
not experience drastic changes. This shows that the absorption capability of the entire
structure, when taking the bottom layer and top nanodisks into account, dominantly
results from the geometric design rather than the choice of materials. However, about
the middle metal layer, which is taken as 5 nm, it can be observed in Fig. 4.2(d) that
the choice of metal drastically affects the absorption spectrum’s shape and bandwidth
at wavelengths larger than 800 nm. Therefore, this ultra-thin layer plays an important
role in broadening the absorption spectrum in the NIR and MIR regions. The results
shown in Figs. 4.2(a-d) justify that the choice of the materials in Fig. 4.1 provides the
widest absorption band.
4.2.3 Dimension Optimizations
To demonstrate the effect of the radius of the nanodisks (r) and the period (p), the ab-
sorption spectrum is calculated and shown for different values of r, for p = 440, 460,
480, 500, 520 and 540 nm, in Figs. 4.3(a), (b), (c), (d), (e), and (f), respectively. It is
noteworthy that h is fixed at 180 nm, and the materials are chosen in accordance to
Fig. 4.1. Similarly, calculations are performed for the case of varying the height of
nanodisks (h), and for above-mentioned values of p at r = 140 nm. The results are
shown in Figs. 4.4(a-f). As shown in Fig. 4.3, by increasing the radius of nanodisks,
the second, third, and fourth absorption maxima are shifted toward larger wave-
lengths. However, it comes at the cost of losing the strength of absorption at smaller
42
Figure 4.2: Absorption spectra for different materials of the (a) dielectric layer, (b)
bottom metal layer, (c) top metallic nanodisks, and (d) middle ultra-thin metal layer,
while using the same materials for the remaining components as in Fig. 4.1. The di-
mensions of the structure in all cases are: p = 480 nm, r = 140 nm, h = 180 nm, di =
165 nm, tMn = 5 nm, and dMn = 135 nm. The geometrical sizes in case of another ma-
terial of the middle layer than Mn in (d) are the same as in case of Mn.
wavelength range. In addition, a comparison of Figs. 4.3(a-f) reveals that increasing

the period of the structure blue-shifts the absorption band and increases the strength
of the absorption in small wavelength regime. By comparing the bandwidths for all
the presented cases, we choose the case presented in Fig. 4.3(c) where p = 480 nm
and r = 140 nm, which provides the largest absorption bandwidth. As can be seen in
Fig. 4.4, the increase in the height of nanodisks exerts the same effect on the absorp-
tion spectrum as the increase of r. Again, the results show that the best values for h
43
Figure 4.3: Absorption spectra of the structure at different values of the radius of
nanodisks (r), while period (p) is taken as (a) 440, (b) 460, (c) 480, (d) 500, (e) 520,
and (f) 540 nm. In all figures, h = 180 nm and the materials are chosen in accordance
to Fig. 4.1.
Figure 4.4: Absorption spectra of the structure at different values of the height of
nanodisks (h), while period (p) is taken as (a) 440, (b) 460, (c) 480, (d) 500, (e) 520,
and (f) 540 nm. In all figures, r = 140 nm and the materials are chosen in accordance
to Fig. 4.1.
44
and p are 180 and 480 nm, respectively. Therefore, Figs. 4.3 and 4.4 confirm that the
optimal values for r, h, and p are 140, 180, and 480 nm, respectively.
4.3.1 Absorption of the Optimal Design
The absorption spectrum of the optimal structure is plotted in Fig. 4.5. To verify the
FDTD simulations, the absorption of the structure has also been calculated using CST
Microwave Studio software, which is based on the FIT. The FDTD and FIT results
are shown with solid red and dashed black lines, respectively. It is shown in Fig.
4.5(a) that the high absorption (absorption above 90%) region starts at the visible, co-
vers the whole NIR, and ends at the MIR regime, i.e. it is in the wavelength range ex-
tending from 478 to 3,278 nm. The bandwidth is then 2,800 nm. The relative band-
width of absorption is calculated by RBW=BW/λcent, where BW and λcent denote the
bandwidth and the center wavelength of the absorption band, respectively. For this
structure, we obtain RBW=149%. This is, to our knowledge, the best result obtained
for such absorbers with one-stage lithography that may cover a very wide wavelength
range, which starts at the visible and ends within the MIR range.
Figure 4.5: (a) Absorption spectra of the optimal structure calculated by FDTD (solid
red line) and FIT (dashed black line) methods, along with contribution of each metal-
lic layer to the absorption of the entire structure, and (b) absorption of the optimal
structure (FDTD results) with magnified ordinate axis, to clearly demonstrate the
peak positions and bandwidth of the absorption.
45
The contribution of each metallic layer (as an absorptive component) to the result-
ing absorption of the structure versus the wavelength is also plotted in Fig. 4.5(a),
where the absorption spectra of the bottom Ti layer, ultra-thin Mn layer, and top Ti
nanodisk array are shown as pink, blue, and green lines, respectively. The absorption
of each individual layer of the entire structure is calculated by placing the field re-
cording and index recording monitors inside the structure in the simulation, and cal-
culating absorption at multiple observation points inside each layer.
4.3.2 Physical Analysis
In this section, we investigate the physical mechanism behind the observed wideband
absorption. As shown in Fig. 4.5(b), the absorption peaks appear at 486, 778, 2,027,
and 3,064 nm. The peak at the wavelength of 3,064 nm shows weaker absorption
compared to the other peaks, but as it can be seen in Fig. 4.2(d), this peak helps the
nearly perfect absorption bandwidth to increase significantly compared to the other
possible choices of metals for the ultra-thin layer. Therefore, it is worth discussing the
physical mechanism behind this peak, as well as the other peaks.
As the first step, we consider the absorption of each metallic layer versus the
wavelength as shown in Fig. 4.5(a). It can be observed that at smaller wavelengths, up
to around 1,000 nm, the absorption in the Ti nanodisks dominates the absorption of
the Mn layer and the bottom Ti layer. This conveys that the absorption at smaller
wavelengths must be mainly due to some resonance modes occurring close to the
nanodisks. These resonances may lead to the absorption of light around the nano-
disks, which are made of Ti, a highly lossy metal that provides the main contribution
to the resulting absorption. On the other hand, at larger wavelengths, i.e. nearly after
1,000 nm, a great portion of light is absorbed by the ultra-thin, 5 nm layer of Mn,
while the absorption portions of the Ti nanodisks and the thick bottom Ti layer are
relatively smaller. This occurs despite the fact that the both Ti components have a
much larger thickness than the Mn layer. This again signifies the crucial role of the
Mn layer in the broadness of the absorption spectrum that is achieved in the studied
structure.
46
Figure 4.6: (a) 3D schematic of the unit cell of the structure without the Mn layer, and
(b) absorption of the optimal structure with and without the Mn layer shown in red
and blue colors, respectively.
To better illustrate importance of the 5 nm Mn layer, we investigate the optical re-

sponse of the suggested structure without this layer, i.e. when Mn is replaced by
Al2O3 and the remaining structure is a top-layer-patterned MIM configuration. The
schematic of the structure without the ultra-thin Mn layer is presented in Fig. 4.6(a)
(also see Fig. 4.1(d)). The absorption spectra of the structures with and without the
Mn layer are shown, respectively, by red and blue lines in Fig. 4.6(b). The absorption
band extends from 478 to 526 nm and from 610 to 836 nm for the configuration with-
out the Mn layer, i.e. it is composed of two adjacent bands. Although the absorption
spectrum has four peaks at the wavelengths of 482, 722, 2,320, and 2,848 nm in this
case, the third peak at larger wavelength does not have a significant strength. There-
fore, the resulting absorption band is relatively narrow (it comprises the above-
mentioned adjacent bands) with the total bandwidth of 274 nm, in the case of not us-
ing the Mn layer. After adding the Mn layer, the strength and the spectral position of
the first two peaks do not change significantly, but the strength of the third and fourth
peaks considerably increases, and they also experience some shift that is depicted in
Fig. 4.6(b) with the black arrows. This conveys that the first and second absorption
peaks do not depend on the effect exerted by the Mn layer, while the third and fourth
ones are significantly affected by the Mn layer. This is in total agreement with our
observations in Figs. 4.5(a) and 4.2(d). Then, by adding the Mn layer, the bandwidth
gets enhanced from 274 to 2,800 nm, i.e. it experiences a tenfold increase. It is worth
47
noting that adding an ultra-thin layer of Mn to the structure does not add considerable
complexity to the fabrication process.
The absorption peaks may be due to different types of resonances such as LSP,
PSP, or guided-mode resonance (GMR). The LSP resonances can occur because of
the existence of nanodisks [36], the PSP mode can propagate in the continuous inter-
face of the bottom Ti and Al2O3 layer [127], and GMR can appear in the Al2O3 layer
that can work as a dielectric waveguide starting from a certain value of di [128-130].
It is noteworthy that, as follows from the results of simulations performed for differ-
ent materials of dielectric (i.e. other than Al2O3) and its thickness, GMRs may pro-
vide the main contribution to the resulting mechanism behind the first peak, in some
ranges of variation of the geometrical and material parameters, while PSPs do so for
other ranges. Moreover, it has been observed that the GMR-related and the PSP-
related effects may coexist in one structure at the same frequency, and sometimes it is
difficult to distinguish between the extents to which each of them contributes. For in-
stance, based on our simulations, the dominant effect of a PSP for the first peak is ob-
vious in case of a thinner Al2O3 layer (e.g. at di=80 nm). In such a case, the field pat-
tern is similar to the one in [127]. At the same time, as will be exemplified below for
our optimal parameters, a GMR can dominate at larger thicknesses of the dielectric
layer. As the full classification of the possible physical effects and an estimation of
the extent of their contribution to the resulting absorption mechanism are beyond the
scope of this section, we focus here on the optimal (main) structure.
In order to obtain some vision of the physical phenomena underlying the observed
absorption peaks, the magnitude of magnetic field distribution inside the structure at
the xz-plane cross section of the unit cell (see Fig. 4.1(c)) is presented in Fig. 4.7.
Figs. 4.7(a-d) show the H-field pattern at the first, second, third, and fourth absorption
peak’s wavelength, respectively. Because of the symmetric nature of the designed
structure, it is polarization insensitive for the case of normal incidence. Without any
loss of generality, we may assume the electrical field vector of the normally incident
wave to be in the x-direction, see Fig. 4.1(a). Therefore, since the propagation is in
the z-direction, its magnetic field vector is in the y-direction. Field distributions in
Fig. 4.7 show the y-component of the magnetic field (Hy) at the four peak wave-
48
lengths of the main structure. It is noteworthy that for this cross-section, the only
component of magnetic field is Hy, while Hx and Hz are zero.
Figure 4.7: The spatial distribution pattern of the magnitude of the y-component of
the magnetic field (Hy) in the xz cross-section of the structure at the (a) first, (b) sec-
ond, (c) third, and (d) fourth absorption peak
It can be observed in Fig. 4.7(a) that, at the first peak of the main structure, the
field is strong in the Al2O3 layer that indicates possible connection to a GMR. More-
over, some features are seen, which indicate possible contribution of PSPs at the bot-
tom Al2O3-Ti interface. At the second peak, the magnetic field distribution, which is
shown in Fig. 4.7(b), indicates some localization around and between the nanodisks,
so that the excitation of an LSP mode occurs here due to the coupling between the
adjacent Ti disks. Field patterns of the third and fourth peaks shown in Figs. 4.7(c,d)
are very similar to each other, and both are showing localization of the field under the
nanodisks, inside the dielectric layer. For the fourth peak, the field pattern indicates
the possible excitation of an LSP mode (or gap-plasmon mode) inside the dielectric
gap between the underside of nanodisks and bottom Ti layer [17]. Moreover, a
strong field enhancement can be observed around the ultra-thin Mn layer and inside
it, which may appear due to optical properties of Mn (will be explained in-detail lat-
er), that allows the field to penetrate and transmit through the layer easily, and get
absorbed inside it. This is why the absorption of the Mn layer is higher compared to
the other two metallic components at large wavelengths (see Fig. 4.5(a)), and adding
the Mn layer enhances the absorption of the entire structure rather at large wave-
lengths than at the small ones (see Fig. 4.6(b)). The situation is similar but not identi-
cal for the third peak. In this case, an LSP cannot exist because the real part of per-
mittivity is positive for all of the used materials. In fact, we have an all-dielectric los-
sy structure in this case. Therefore, we rather have here the mimicking of an LSP
49
mode. It might be in qualitative coincidence with the recently suggested theory of sur-
face-plasmon-like effects in all-dielectric structures [131], but it needs an additional
clarifying.
To demonstrate possible effects of a GMR and an LSP mode, the absorption spec-
trum of a periodic array of Ti nanodisks on a 165 nm thick Al2O3 substrate is plotted
in Fig. 4.8(a). The unit cell of the simulated structure is also shown in the inset of the
figure and the dimensions are chosen as p = 480, h = 180, r = 140, di = 165 nm. Ab-
sorption peaks are observed at 535 and 775 nm, being a reminiscence of the first and
second peaks of absorption in the main structure. The spectral location of the peak at
775 nm is so close to the second absorption peak of the main structure at 778 nm. It is
because they both appear due to the excitation of a coupled LSP mode between the
nanodisks, and in both cases, nanodisks are the same. In turn, the first resonance at
535 nm is associated with a GMR. The reason that its spectral position does not per-
fectly coincide with the first peak of the main structure is that in the case of GMR, a
layer located below the Al2O3 layer affects the GMR wavelength. It can be shown
that adding a back-side slab below the Al2O3 layer and changing the real part of its
permittivity from unity to that of Ti leads to the gradual shift of the first peak closer
and closer to the first peak in the main structure (as well as to the one in the main
structure but without the Mn layer). This gives us more evidence that the first peak of
absorption in the main structure is connected to a GMR.
Figure 4.8: (a) Absorption spectrum of the periodic array of Ti nanodisks on the
Al2O3 substrate, with p = 480, h = 180, r = 140, di = 165 nm. (b) Absorption spectrum
in case when bottom Ti layer is replaced by PEC, with the same dimensions as those
of optimized structure. The insets show the schematics of the simulated structures.
50
Next, Fig. 4.8(b) shows the absorption spectrum of the structure when the bottom
Ti layer is replaced with a perfect electric conductor (PEC). The unit cell of the simu-
lated structure is also shown in the inset of this figure, and the dimensions are the
same as those of the optimized structure. This simulation is done to confirm the fact
that the first absorption peak of the main structure is due to a GMR, and not a PSP
mode. There are two absorption peaks at 477 and 783 nm, which almost perfectly
match with the first and second absorption peaks of the main structure at 478 and 778
nm, respectively. This indicates that, in contrast with some of the earlier suggested
absorbers [36, 127], these peaks are mainly not due to the excitation of a PSP mode
at the bottom Al2O3-Ti interface. Indeed, when there is a PEC at the bottom layer, any
PSP mode cannot exist.
As we mentioned above, the field pattern of the first peak signifies the existence of
a GMR. The phase-matching condition of the GMR in the 2D periodic structures is as
follows [128, 129]:
 2π 
k GMR =k 0 sin(θ0 ) + m   (4.1)
 p 
where P is the period of the structure, θ0 is the incidence angle, KGMR is the wave-
number of the GMR, K0 is the wavenumber of the incident wave in the free space,
and m is an integer number. It is noteworthy that the condition given by Eq. (4.1) is
also valid for PSPs in 2D periodic structures [36]. However, we confirmed above that
the first peak of absorption for the main structure cannot be due to PSP. Eq. (4.1)
conveys that by increasing (decreasing) the period of the structure, the spectral posi-
tion of the GMR should experience a red-shift (blue-shift). To investigate this effect,
the absorption spectra of the optimal structure with different values of p have been
shown in Fig. 4.9(a). The range of wavelength is taken between 400 and 1,000 nm,
for better evidence of the shifting behavior for the first two peaks. As expected, the
first peak experiences a red-shift while increasing p. This confirms our earlier argu-
ment that the first peak is connected with a GMR. The second peak experiences al-
most no shift that indicates no connection to a GMR or PSP.
Let us remind here that the second peak is due to the excitation of a coupled LSP
mode (Fig. 4.7(b)) and, fourth and third peaks are expected to appear due to the exci-
51
tation of a gap-plasmon LSP mode and the mimicking of such a mode in all-dielectric
case, respectively (Fig. 4.7(c,d)). Figures 4.9(b) and 4.9(c) demonstrate the absorption
spectra of the optimal structure for different values of r and h, respectively, with the
wavelength ranging from 400 to 1,000 nm. It can be observed that the increase of r or
h causes an obvious red-shift in the position of the second peak, while the position of
the first peak is almost insensitive to any variation of r and h. The behavior of the first
peak is already expected from its origin being associated to a GMR, and not an LSP
mode, while the behavior of the second peak can be clearly explained from the field
pattern in Fig. 4.7(b). It is obvious that, because of the field localization and strong
confinement of the field in the region between the adjacent disks in the case of the
coupled LSP mode associated with the second peak, both r and h should affect its
spectral position. Moreover, the behavior of the third and fourth peaks by changing r
and h is evident in Figs. 4.3(c) and 4.4(c), respectively. It is evident in Fig. 4.3(c) that
increasing r significantly red-shifts both the third and fourth peaks, while the increase
of h exerts a very minor effect on the third peak and almost no effect on the fourth
peak (Fig. 4.4(c)). These features can also be explained by using Figs. 4.7(c) and
4.7(d). One can see that the magnetic field for the conventional and mimicked gap-
plasmon LSP modes for the both peaks are below the nanodisks, i.e. inside the dielec-
tric (Al2O3) region and, therefore, they are associated with the radius of disks, and not
with their height.
The input impedance of the entire structure, which is normalized to the free-space
impedance can be calculated by using the following formula:
0.5
 (1  S11
2
)  S221 
Zin   2 
 (1  S11 )  S21 
2
(4.2)
where S11 and S21 are the elements of the S parameter’s matrix, corresponding to the
reflection and transmission, respectively. The results are presented in Fig. 4.9(d). In
order to have perfect matching with free space, the real part of the normalized input
impedance of the structure must be 1, and its imaginary part must be zero. At the re-
gions where these conditions are met to some extent, i.e. even an imperfect imped-
ance matching may lead to minimizing the reflection and, thereby, maximizing the
absorption. For instance, Zin=1.016 – j 0.029 at the spectral position of the second
52
absorption peak for the optimized structure, located at 778 nm, which is the cause of
the strong absorption. The cause is the same for the third and fourth peaks.
Now, let us discuss some features observed in Fig. 4.2 once more, by taking into ac-
count the results presented in Fig. 4.10. It is observable that changing the metal of the
ultra-thin layer has a much more significant effect on the absorption of the structure
compared to changing the metal of the top nanodisk and bottom metal layer. The sig-
nificant difference between the performances of different metals as the ultra-thin
middle metal layer is attributed to the fact that, as it was observed in the field patterns
in Fig. 4.7, the field is enhanced around this thin layer for IR wavelengths, and the
field penetration and absorption inside this layer gets significantly affected by the op-
tical properties of the used metal. It is noticeable from Fig. 4.2(d) that Mn provides
the best result when being used as the thin layer. The second best performance has the
Figure 4.9: Absorption spectra of the optimal structure for different values of (a) p,
(b) r, and (c) h; (d) Real (blue line) and imaginary (red line) parts of the normalized
input impedance of the optimal structure, Zin, calculated using S-parameters, see Eq.
(4.2).
53
ultra-thin layer made of Ti. These two materials of the ultra-thin layer provide a sig-
nificantly superior performance as compared to the other metals in the MIR region.
As seen in Fig. 4.10(a), Mn and Ti have much smaller modulus of the real part of
permittivity compared to the other metals, in the MIR region. Having a small modu-
lus of the real part of permittivity leads to a high field penetration inside Mn and Ti,
and their intrinsic metallic loss may lead to stronger absorption. Mn has a smaller
modulus of the real part of permittivity and a larger imaginary part of permittivity
(higher loss), compared to Ti. This is why using Mn as the ultra-thin layer results in a
wider absorption band compared to Ti. Moreover, it can be observed in Fig. 4.2(d)
that using Au and Ag in the ultra-thin layer leads to a significant narrowing of the ab-
sorption band. This issue arises from the similar reason as the one explained above. It
can be observed in Fig. 4.10 that Au and Ag have a much larger modulus of the real
part of permittivity and a smaller imaginary part of permittivity compared to the rest
of metals. This is a reason why the field penetration, field enhancement, and absorp-
tion for Au and Ag cannot be as efficient as for the other metals.
Figure 4.10: (a) Real and (b) imaginary parts of the relative permittivity for Cr, Fe,
Mn, Pt, Ti, W, Au, and Ag.
4.3.3 Fabrication Tolerance
Next, let us investigate the fabrication tolerance of the structure, which is an im-
portant factor for the evaluation of the prospects of mass production. As mentioned
earlier, large-scale fabrication and production of the proposed structure is realizable
54
by nanoimprint lithography, since it has only one step of lithography in its fabrication
procedure. This technique can resolve sub-100 nm features with a high precision
[39].
Figs. 4.11(a,b,c,d,e,f) show the color plots of the absorption versus wavelength for
the continuously varying values of p, h, r, tMn, di, and dMn, respectively, while keeping
all the other parameters constant and equal to the ones of the optimized structure.
These figures demonstrate the tolerance of the structure’s response to the deviations
from the design dimensions, which can be a result of fabrication imperfections. The
optimal values of the geometrical sizes are shown by the horizontal dashed lines. The
response of the structure seems to be most sensitive to the deviations of the thickness
of the Mn layer (tMn), as shown in Fig. 4.11(d). In particular, one can see that the de-
viations of tMn from the selected value can lead to a band narrowing (at larger tMn) and
a band splitting (at smaller tMn). In addition, as can be seen in Fig. 4.11(c), deviations
from the optimal value of r may lead to an insignificant red-shift or blue-shift in the
position of the second, third, and fourth peaks, but the general behavior of the absorp-
Figure 4.11: Color plots of the absorption versus (a) p, (b) h, (c) r, (d) tMn, (e) di, and
(f) dMn and the wavelength, for the purpose of demonstration of fabrication tolerance
of the optimal structure. The dashed horizontal lines indicate the optimal value of the
parameter under study.
55
tion band does not get affected significantly. The response has a very good robustness
to the introduced variations in p, h, di, and dMn, although some relatively minor
changes in the bandwidth are possible. All the plots in Fig. 4.11 confirm that the sug-
gested design has a very good fabrication tolerance to possible deviations from the
optimal values. This confirms that, in addition to comprising cost-effective materials,
this structure is fabrication tolerant and, therefore, it is a very good candidate for fu-
ture mass production.
4.3.4 Polarization and Incidence Angle Sensitivity
As the final step, we investigate the absorption behavior of the structure for different
angles of incidence for both polarizations. Figures 4.12(a,b) show absorption versus
wavelength for incidence angles of 20, 40, and 60 degrees for TM and TE polariza-
tions, respectively. In general, the absorption band is narrowing when the angle is in-
creased. However, at certain wavelengths, for the case of the incidence angle of 40°
and TM polarization in Fig. 4.12(a), absorption is almost perfect, e.g. A>97 %, within
the range of 818< λ <2,147 nm. The results show that the absorption remains high in
a wide wavelength range for TM polarization up to incidence angles as large as 60
degrees; TE polarization is more sensitive to the incidence angle variations. In spite
of this, rather wide bands of A>90% can exist, at least up to 40 degrees.
Figure 4.12: Absorption spectrum of the optimal structure for oblique incidence an-
gles of 20, 40, and 60 degrees; (a) TM and (b) TE polarizations.
56
4.4 Conclusion
An ultra-broadband, nearly perfect absorber is designed, analyzed, and characterized

in detail. The studied structure is actually a top-layer-patterned MIM structure with
Ti-Al2O3-Ti configuration, with an ultra-thin 5 nm layer of Mn embedded into the
dielectric (Al2O3) layer. It has been shown that adding just a very thin layer of Mn
widens the bandwidth from 274 nm to 2,800 nm, i.e. it leads to a tenfold increase in
the bandwidth. This allows covering the visible, NIR, and partially MIR range, while
it does not need additional lithography steps and does not add much to the overall
fabrication complexity of the structure. The structure has the relative absorption
bandwidth of 149%, which is probably the best result obtained so far for such struc-
tures. It has been shown that the proposed structure keeps high absorption for both
TM and TE polarizations up to large angles. Since the structure only needs one step
of lithography in its fabrication procedure, with the dimensions of lithographic pat-
terns being over 180 nm, and with the high fabrication tolerance, its mass production
can be easily realized by using nanoimprint lithography technology. Taking this fact
into consideration along with the unprecedentedly ultra-broadband, nearly perfect ab-
sorption, one can conclude that the proposed absorber is very promising for photovol-
taic and thermal emission applications. The use of Mn for one of the absorber com-
ponents, the used design procedure, and obtained numerical results can serve, along
with the physical performed analysis, as a good starting point for design of a wide
class of ultra-wideband absorbers that meet the requirements of a broad spectrum of
applications, ranging from photovoltaics and solar cells to shielding and optical
communication filters.
57
58
Chapter 5
Manganese-Based Lithography-free
UV to FIR Absorption
5.1 Introduction
In this section, we present a facile and straightforward approach for the fabrication
of ultra-broadband lithography-free absorbers by a single film of Mn coated over a
high-roughness substrate including randomly sized needle-like and sharp nano-
pyramids. The measured absorption using an integrating sphere confirms an average
of 99% absorption in the ultra-broad range of 250-2500 nm, i.e. from UV to MIR.
Simulations predict that the absorption above the 90% regime should at least go
above 10 microns, which means UV to FIR. It is explained that such a broadband ab-
sorption is due to the cooperative contribution of two key factors: 1. electromagnetic
field tapering owing to the tapered nature of the structure (graded-index or moth-eye
effect), and the very appropriate optical properties of Mn for broadband absorbers
[114, 120]. These physical characteristics contribute to the fact that the coated Mn
film surprisingly, not only blocks the transmission but also suppresses the reflection.
Such a result, to the best of our knowledge, is the best absorber realized with lithog-
raphy-free structures. This concept can also be generalized to high-roughness sub-
strates with different materials because, as mentioned, the field does not penetrate be-
low the Mn layer and, therefore, the substrate only is required to have tapered features
on it, independent of the type of its material. Such a desirable result with a relatively
simple and inexpensive fabrication process can be an excellent candidate for mass
59
production purposes with a variety of applications ranging from photovoltaics to
thermal emission and shielding.
Planar metal films with a thickness sufficiently larger than their skin depth are used as
the bottommost part of the broadband absorbers to guarantee almost zero transmis-
sion. However, the same metal film, if used solely, leads to a high reflection due to its
large impedance mismatch with free-space. Therefore, absorbers typically include
other layers above the metallic substrate that suppress the reflection by providing im-
pedance matching with the free space. In this section, we use only one metallic thin
film of the thickness of 600 nm coated on a substrate with tapered features to obtain
transmission and reflection suppression at the same time in an ultra-broad range, and
thus reach an ultra-wideband absorption. This design does not include any other lay-
ers or materials on top of this metallic film.
Figure 5.1(a) shows the plots of transmission (T), reflection (R), and absorption
(A) for a 600 nm planar thin film of Mn. The absorption can be calculated as A=1-R-
T. It can be observed that, as expected, a metallic layer with such a thickness leads to
almost zero transmission, but the reflection is large, and thus the total absorption is
low. The idea in this work is to coat the same type of metallic single thin film but to
make it in a tapered configuration that enables the moth-eye or graded-index effect.
Figure 5.1(b) shows the simulated R, T, and A plots for the case of making the thin
film of Mn in a periodic pyramidal configuration with the thickness of 600 nm, where
the period is 1 micron and the height of pyramids is 4 microns. In other words, we
have suspended periodic pyramids made of a 600 nm thick Mn layer. The schematic
of such a case is shown in the inset of Fig. 5.2(b). We note that, by making this thin
film tapered, in addition to the suppression of T, R gets suppressed in an ultra-broad
range of wavelengths. This leads to having perfect absorption in the broad band of
UV to FIR. The physics behind this broadband absorption will be elevated in detail in
the next sections. It is also noteworthy that the permittivity of Mn (and Si) used
throughout this section and in the simulations is measured by fitting measured spec-
60
troscopy data obtained by J. A. Woollam Co. Inc. V-VASE and IR-VASE ellipsome-
ters.
In order to experimentally implement the above-mentioned idea, we should have a

substrate with tapered features on it to coat the Mn layer. For instance, one can pat-
tern a substrate with the shape of periodic nano-pyramids using EBL or FIB, but these
methods are not preferred for scalable production, are expensive, very time-
consuming, and they do not provide us with large-area structures. To avoid such a
limitation, we use a lithography-free method that leads to randomly-sized nano-
pyramids on the surface of a commercial 4-inch p-type Silicon (Si) wafer. Randomly-
sized nano-pyramids on the surface of a commercial 4-inch p-type Si wafer are gen-
erated by using an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) tool and a Bosch process like
etching recipe [132]. The use of etching to obtain nano-pyramids on the surface of an
Si wafer is carried out in the previous works with other recipes and leads to the so-
called Black Silicon which has applications as broadband absorber or solar cell.
However, as will be experimentally presented in the coming sections of this study,
absorption in Black Si is limited up to around 1000 nm because of the limited absorp-
tion properties of the doped Silicon [133]. However, as will be shown in the next sec-
tions, any substrate made of any other material that has tapered features on it leads to
the same result. In other words, the ultra-broadband absorption of the structure is not
due to the properties of Si and is because of the tapered geometry and optical proper-
ties of the Mn layer.
Figure 5.1(c) shows the schematic of the randomly sized and randomly distributed
nano-pyramids on the surface of an Si wafer before and after coating with Mn. In or-
der to achieve such features on the surface of the Si substrate, we have adopted an
inductively coupled plasma (ICP) tool process recipe with multiple cyclic steps that
are composed of deposition and etch steps, using the STS Multiplex ICP Etch system.
Each cyclic step consists of two half steps. The first half step is reactive ion etching
(RIE) of Si and the second half step is the deposition of C4F8 on the previously RIE
etched Si surface. In the first half step (RIE), a mixture of SF6 and O2 gases are re-
leased into the process chamber for a duration of 10 seconds. In the second half step
(deposition), C4F8 is deposited on the Si surface for 7 seconds. Gas flow rates for SF6,
O2, andC4F8 gases are set as 80 sccm, 5 sccm, and 70 sccm, respectively. The chamb-
61
Figure 5.1: a) Transmission, reflection, and absorption spectrum of a 600 nm thick
planar Mn layer, b) Transmission, reflection, and absorption spectrum of a 600 nm
thick suspended pyramidal array (shell) of Mn, and c) schematic of the random Si
nano-pyramids before and after coating the surface with e-beam evaporated Mn shell
like thin-film.
er pressures during the half steps of etching and deposition are set as 35 mTorr and 20
mTorr, respectively. During the etching and deposition half steps, the coil power is
set as 500 Watts and 400 Watts, respectively, and the platen power is set as 13 Watts
and 0 Watts, respectively. The chamber temperature is set to 20°C for both of the half
steps and, therefore, the entire process. Table 1 in supporting information shows the
process recipe parameters for both of the deposition and etching half steps.
Figure 5.2(a-d) demonstrate the Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) images of

the surface of a commercial p-type silicon wafer substrate when 100, 200, 300, and
400 cycles of the above-mentioned ICP tool recipe is applied on it, respectively. It
can be observed that with 100 cycles of etching, the tip of the random nano-pyramids
starts to appear, but there are still significant flat spaces on the substrate surface. For
62
the cases of 200, 300, and 400 process cycles, the nano-pyramids have obviously ap-
peared and as expected, the height of pyramids increases as the number of cycles in-
crease. In other words, the etching depth increases with the number of cycles. It can
be observed in Figs. 5.2(b-d) that the shaped nano-pyramids are sharp and needle-like
and they randomly vary in their size and distribution. The flat areas without tapered
features on the surface of the 100-cycle etched wafer make it inappropriate for our
purpose. Therefore, we coat Mn on the surface of the other three samples with 200,
300, and 400 etching cycles. Using the above-mentioned recipe, we obtained such
features on a full 4-inch Si wafer and, therefore, in principle, this process is wafer-
scale and can be applied to any size of wafers. However, the process parameters may
need to be modified if larger scale wafers (i.e. 6-inch diameter, or 8-inch diameter Si
wafers) or smaller scale wafers (i.e. 2-inch diameter Si wafers) are used instead of 4-
inch diameter Si wafers.
The measured absorption spectra of the samples, the SEM images of which are
shown in Figs. 5.2(a-d) are demonstrated in Fig. 5.2 (e), along with the absorption
spectrum of the commercial Si wafer. It can be observed that, as expected, the 100-
cycle sample does not give high absorption and has an absorption spectrum close to
that of Si wafer before etching. On the other hand, all other three samples with 200,
300, and 400 etching cycles show very high absorption in the range up to around
1000 nm wavelength, and their absorption profiles are very similar to each other. The
absorption of these samples drops significantly after 1000 nm, which is due to the re-
duction in the loss of the Si wafer. The images of the 100-cycle and 400-cycle etched
Si full wafers are shown in Figs. 5.2(f) and 5.2(g), respectively. The black color of the
400-cycle sample is attributed to the high absorption of the nano-pyramids of doped
Si in the visible region. However, as seen in Fig. 5.2(e), the absorption in this case is
limited up to around 1000 nm wavelength, and for larger wavelengths, the structure
loses its high absorption behavior. On the other hand, the 100-cycle sample has a non-
black color close to that of commercial wafer without etching due to weak absorption.
Here, we emphasize that in order to obtain the absorption (A) spectrum, we should
measure the transmission (T) and reflection (R). T can be measured by using normal
devices such as ellipsometer or FTIR. However, for measuring R for this structure,
we require an integrating sphere set up to be integrated with the device we are using.
63
Figure 5.2: SEM image from the surface of the Si wafer etched for a) 100, b) 200, c)
300, and d) 400 process cycles. e) Absorption spectra of the samples mentioned in
(a), along with commercial Si wafer. Photograph of the Si wafers etched for f) 100,
and g) 400 cycles.
This is due to the fact that, because of the nonplanar geometry of the structure, a high
portion of the reflected wave will be scattered, i.e. we have to measure both diffusive
and specular reflections from the sample. Any device without an integrating sphere
setup only measures the specular reflection. However, the integrating sphere has a
reflective mirror inside it and gathers all portions of the reflected beam which is scat-
tered into any direction and sends all to the detector. The integrating sphere used in
our device, is attached to the Carry 5000 UV-VIS-IR spectrophotometer and
measures in the range of 250-2500 nm. The sphere is covered with PTFE and it is 110
mm in diameter. The transmission measurements are carried out using V-VASE and
IR-VASE Ellipsometers.
In order to extensively broaden the perfect absorption band, we coat a single layer
of Mn with three different thicknesses of 400, 600, and 800 nm, using VAKSIS elec-
tron-beam evaporator system. The coating rate of Mn is set to 10 Angstroms/s. The
relatively high rate of coating is due to the fact that in this work it is not required to
64
Figure 5.3: a) SEM image of the surface of the 300-cycle etched sample coated with
600 nm Mn, b) SEM image of the cross-section of the sample mentioned in (a) that is
milled by FIB, c) AFM image of the surface topography of the sample mentioned in
(a), and d) photograph of the sample mentioned in (a).
have flat and conformal films and, therefore, we can use high coating rates which is
very desirable for high-throughput production purposes. On the other hand, in broad-
band absorption applications, having extra roughness and non-conformal layers gen-
erally leads to a broader absorption band since these features may add extra resonanc-
es to the overall performance of the structure.
The SEM image of the 300-cycle sample coated with 600 nm Mn is shown in Fig.
5.3(a). Moreover, Fig. 5.3(b) demonstrates the cross-section SEM image of the same
sample which is milled by Focused Ion Beam (FIB). From Fig. 5.3(b) it can be ob-
served that the randomly sized Si nano-pyramids are coated with Mn and the thick-
ness of Mn layer is not uniform. More images from the cross-section of the same
sample can be found in supporting information. Fig. 5.3(c) also shows the Atomic
65
Force Microscopy (AFM) image of the surface topography of the sample. Finally,
Fig. 5.3(d) shows the image of the mentioned sample.
Figures 5.4(a), (b), and (c) show the absorption spectrum for the 200, 300, and 400
cycles etched samples, respectively. Each figure contains the measured absorption for
the three thicknesses of coated Mn, 400 nm, 600 nm, and 800 nm. The variation of
etching cycles and coated Mn thickness is to check the possible changes of the ab-
sorption spectrum’s behavior with regards to the fabrication parameters. It can be ob-
served that, throughout the whole measured wavelength range of 250-2500 nm, the
absorption is almost perfect for all of the fabricated devices, and their performances
are almost the same. In other words, the measured absorption confirms perfect ab-
sorption ranging from UV to MIR with negligible dependence to variations in the fab-
rication process, and the structure shows an excellent fabrication tolerance. The aver-
age absorption in the measured range is approximately 99%. Such wideband absorp-
tion with a lithography-free structure has not been experimentally reported before, to
the best of our knowledge. It should also be noted that the integrating sphere setup is
limited up to the wavelength of 2500 nm. As it will be shown in the following, simu-
lations confirm that the absorption band of the structure goes up to around 10 mi-
crons, i.e. from UV to FIR. It is also evident from the trend of measured absorption
behavior of the structure in Fig. 5.4 as the wavelength increases, that the absorption
does not show a negative slope toward the larger wavelengths, and if the same trend
continues for the larger wavelengths that have not been measured, the absorption will
remain above 90% for up to a couple of microns larger than 2500 nm wavelength. It
is noteworthy here that, as it will be confirmed by the simulations, the high-roughness
Si wafer does not contribute to blocking the transmission, and is it almost completely
blocked by the Mn layer that in all cases is a couple of hundred nanometers. The col-
or of 600 nm thick Mn coated 300-cycle etched sample, the image of which is shown
in Fig. 5.3(d), and all of the other samples are black due to the perfect absorption of
the visible light. The objective of fabricating 9 samples with 3 different etching cycles
and 3 different Mn thicknesses is to show that this method has a very high fabrication
tolerance and the combination of tapered substrate with the optical properties of Mn
is the key to this broadband absorption and it is not restricted to any specific geomet-
rical optimization. As demonstrated with the experiments, having high fabrication
tolerance is a very important feature for the mass production of such absorbers.
66
Figure 5.4: Absorption spectra of the fabricated samples with the three different Mn
coating thicknesses of 400 nm, 600 nm, and 800 nm, for the cases of a) 200, b) 300,
and c) 400 cycles of etching.
Based on the topographic image of the sample (Fig. 5.3(c)), we can approximately
model the 300-cycle 600 nm Mn coated structure as a periodic array of Mn coated
nano-pyramids. The 3D schematic of the approximated model of the structure, along
with the xz-plane cross-section of its unit cell is shown in Fig. 5.5(a). In this approx-
imation, the whole structure is assumed to be made of similar periodic pyramids. As
can be seen in Fig. 5.5(a), the height of the inner pyramid made of Si, the period, and
the thickness of the coated metal layer are denoted as h, p, and t, respectively. Based
on the SEM images taken from the cross-section of the sample, we choose h=4 mi-
crons, p=1 micron, and t=600 nm for the simulation. In this unit cell, the Si pyramid
is not extended downwards below the region where Mn is coated. This is done to
make sure that the transmission blockage behavior of the structure is not due to the
high thickness of the Si wafer below the patterns and is only achieved by the Mn lay-
er.
The absorption of the approximated structure is shown in Fig. 5.5(b). The simula-
tions are carried out with two independent methods using the Lumerical for FDTD
(Finite Difference Time Domain) [113] and COMSOL Multiphysics for FEM (Finite
Element Modelling) [134]. It can be observed that such a structure shows an absorp-
tion of above 90% up to the wavelength of 13500 nm, i.e. spanning from UV to FIR.
To discuss the results more clearly, the simulated reflection and transmission of this
sample are also shown in the same plot. It can be observed that in the mentioned ul-
tra-broad range, both the reflection and transmission are suppressed. The transmission
is suppressed due to the fact that the thickness of the Mn layer is 600 nm which is
much larger than its skin depth, therefore, this simulation proves that in the experime-
67
Figure 5.5: a) 3D schematic of the approximated model along with its xz cross-
section of its unit cell, b) Calculated reflection, transmission, and absorption spectrum
of the structure when h=4, p=1, and t=0.6 microns. Calculated absorption spectra for
the incidence angles of 20 degrees, 40 degrees, and 60 degrees, for the case of c) TE
polarization, and d) TM polarization.
ntal case, the transmission is not blocked as an effect of high thickness of the Si wafer
below the nano-pyramids and is a direct result of the thickness of the Mn film only.
The conclusion that thick Si substrate does not affect the results also enables us to
fabricate the same structure on top of any high-roughness substrate other than Si, and
shows that the absorption behavior of the structure is independent from the choice of
substrate as long as the surface of the substrate has enough roughness. We further
demonstrate this point by studying the field profile within the structure.
We note that the reflection is suppressed because of the effect of Field Tapering or
the graded-index (moth-eye) effect. In the conventional structures, the metallic layers
with thicknesses of a couple hundred nanometers are put at the bottommost part to
68
only block the transmission, and the minimization of reflection happens due to the
contribution of the other parts of the structure above that bottom layer. However, un-
like those conventional absorbers, in our case, a single coated metallic layer happens
to play the role of blocking both the transmission and reflection at the same time. This
phenomenon is due to the tapered geometric shape of the substrate that enables the
effect of field tapering. This effect, along with the very appropriate optical properties
of Mn and the light trapping nature of this structure, which will be discussed in detail
later, contributes to such a broadband absorption.
Since it is not possible to use an integrating sphere setup for the case of oblique in-
cidence, the same approximated structure is also simulated for the cases of TM and
TE polarizations of oblique incidence. The absorption spectra for incidence angles of
20 degrees, 40 degrees, and 60 degrees and for TE and TM polarizations are present-
ed in Figs. 5.5(c) and 5.5(d), respectively. It can be observed that the structure retains
its high absorption for large incidence angles and for both polarizations, although it is
more robust for the case of TE polarization.
Now, let us discuss the physical mechanism behind this broadband absorption in
more detail. As the first step toward the physical analysis, the electric field magnitude
pattern is shown at the xz-plane cross-section of the unit cell in Fig. 5.6. The simula-
tions are carried out for the different wavelengths of 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 microns.
The field patterns clearly demonstrate the phenomena of the field tapering due to the
graded-index nature of the structure which is also referred to as the moth-eye effect.
Field tapering happens when there is a gradual change in the effective index of the
structure from the top to the bottom which leads to a slow and smooth impedance
matching between the air and the structure. Here, obviously the structure-to-air ratio
at any horizontal cross-section of the structure increases gradually which is the cause
of graded-index effect in this pattern. This shows that the incident field slowly gets
coupled to the structure in the region between the adjacent unit cells, but it cannot
penetrate inside the coated nano-pyramids due to the high thickness of the Mn layer.
After coupling slowly to the structure, the field gets absorbed by the lossy Mn layer.
Here, we demonstrate why Mn is an appropriate metal for this structure. Figure 5.7(a)
shows the absorption spectrum for different coated metals in the configuration of
69
Figure 5.6: Electric field magnitude distribution at the xz cross-section of the unit cell
for different wavelengths of 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 microns.
Fig. 5.5(a), which are typically used for broadband absorber structures. These metals
include W, Cr, Ti, Fe, and Mn. The dimensions are same as in the earlier simulations
(h=4, p=1, and t=0.6 microns). It can be seen that for the case of other metals, the
A>90% band at the best goes up to the wavelength of approximately 4.5 microns for
the case of Ti, while when using Mn the bandwidth is enhanced very significantly and
the upper wavelength limit of A>90% band goes up to around 13 microns. This sig-
nificant superiority of Mn can be explored in its optical properties. For this purpose,
70
Figure 5.7: a) Absorption spectrum of Si nano-pyramid array coated with Mn, Ti, W,
Fe, and Cr, b) real part of relative permittivity, and c) absorption spectrum of 600 nm
thick planar film of the metals mentioned in (a), d) Schematic of the light trapping
nature of the structure, and, e) absorption spectrum of the nano-pyramid array of dif-
ferent substrates when coated with Mn.
we have plotted the real part of relative permittivity of all the metals in Fig. 5.7(b).
The optical data for Mn is obtained by ellipsometric measurements and for all other
metals it is taken from Palik [123]. It can be observed that in such a broad wave-
length range, Mn has a much smaller absolute value of real part of permittivity com-
71
pared to the other metals and it retains its small value throughout the whole spectrum.
Having a small real part of permittivity leads to better field penetration inside the
metal and through the intrinsic loss of metal, i.e. the imaginary part of permittivity,
the penetrated field gets absorbed. Moreover, the absorption spectra of 600 nm planar
films of the above-mentioned metals are shown in Fig. 5.7(c). It can be observed that
even a planar film of Mn has a better absorptive capability compared to other metals.
The other physical mechanism (especially in shorter wavelength where ray optics
approximation is applicable) contributing to the excellent performance of the pro-
posed device is the light-trapping nature of the structure. It is common to trap the
light inside Fabry-Pérot or gap-plasmon cavity modes, but in this structure, the non-
planar configuration of the constituting elements makes it a nice scaffold for light
trapping. As shown by the schematic presentation in Fig. 5.7(d), the light can get re-
flected back and forth from one surface to another between the neighboring pyramids,
and in each reflection, it can be partially absorbed.
Based on the above-mentioned arguments, it can be summarized that the main

physical mechanisms behind this broadband strong absorption are: 1. The phenomena
of field tapering that exists due to the graded-index profile of the structure, and, 2.
The significantly small real part of permittivity of Mn that allows for better field pen-
etration inside the Mn film and consequently leads to higher absorption compared to
conventional absorbing metals, and 3. The special geometry of the structure that
makes an appropriate platform for light trapping.
As a final remark, the absorption spectrum of the structure for the case of using
different substrate materials in the unit cell of Fig. 5.5(a) is shown in Fig. 5.7(e). This
is done in order to show that this approach is valid to any high roughness substrate
and is not a result of properties of Si. The other possible typical substrates are quartz
(SiO2), and Sapphire (Al2O3). The absorption spectrum of the structure for the case of
not using any substrate material, with suspended empty pyramids is also shown in the
figure. It is obvious that the result is almost robust to the choice of substrate material
and the ultra-broadband absorption profile is almost the same for all the substrate ma-
terials, as well as, for the case of suspended pyramids. In other words, the extremely
broadband absorption of this structure is obtained due to the geometric properties of
72
the substrate and is not connected to the substrate material. Therefore, the same result
is obtainable by any other substrate material as long as the substrate has tapered py-
ramidal features on it.
5.3 Conclusion
In summary, a facile and feasible lithography-free approach for obtaining ultra-

broadband perfect absorption through a single layer coating of Mn over a high-
roughness substrate including densely packed and randomly distributed nano-
pyramids, is experimentally presented. The experimental measurements using inte-
grating sphere confirm approximately 99% average absorption in the range of 250 to
2500 nm, i.e. from UV to MIR. The measurements are limited to this wavelength due
to the limitations of the integrating sphere. However, the simulations predict that the
absorption band extends up to above 10 microns, in other words, from UV to FIR.
The physical mechanism behind this broadband absorption is discussed and it is
shown that this is due to the cooperative contribution of the superior optical proper-
ties of Mn along with the phenomena of electromagnetic field tapering and light-
trapping between the densely packed and randomly distributed nano-pyramids. The
tapered structures on the surface of the Si substrate are obtained by a Bosch process
like recipe etching in an ICP tool. It is important to emphasize that, as demonstrated
through the simulations, this approach can be used for any high-roughness substrate
other than Silicon with densely packed, randomly distributed nano-pyramidal shaped
features on the substrate. By fabricating several samples with different etching cycles
and Mn layer thicknesses, and by achieving almost the same result from all of them, it
is also experimentally shown that the structure has a high fabrication tolerance that
makes it a very appropriate candidate for mass production. The findings and experi-
ments of this section are very beneficial for large-area and mass production of broad-
band absorbers covering the full range of UV to FIR.
73
Chapter 6
Lithography-Free Electrically Tuna-

ble Color Filters
This chapter is on part reprinted with permission from: Majid Aalizadeh, A. E.

Serebryannikov, A. Khavasi, G. A. E. Vandenbosch, and E. Ozbay, “Toward
Electrically Tunable, Lithography-Free, Ultra-Thin Color Filters Covering the Whole
Visible Spectrum,” Scientific Reports, vol. 8, p. 11316, 2018.
6.1 Introduction
In this work, we propose an electrically tunable, lithography-free, ultra-thin color fil-

ter. It is designed by utilizing the EO dielectric organic crystal of 4-dimethyl-amino-
N-methyl-4-stilbazoliumtosylate (DAST) as the insulator layer and Silver (Ag) as the
metal layer, in the simple MIM cavity [111] configuration. The total thickness of the
structure is only 120 nm, where the thickness of layers (metal, insulator, and metal) is
25, 70, and 25 nm, from the top to the bottom. Description of optimization procedure
along with conceptual analysis is presented. Moreover, a simple approach has been
suggested for the determination of the resonance wavelength by the use of circuit the-
ory, which has not yet been applied to the MIM structures, to the best of our
knowledge. The passband region of the designed filter continuously covers the whole
visible region by tuning the applied voltage, so that the output color changes from
violet to red by changing the voltage from -12 to +12 volts. The device has the capa-
74
bility of functioning with negative voltages, which makes it relatively power-
efficient. It can have applications in optical communication and switching, dynamic
displays, holograms, imaging devices, light emitting structures, and smart color-
tunable windows.
6.2 Calculation and Analysis
Figure 6.1(a) depicts the 3D schematic of the structure. It consists of two metal layers
and an insulator layer sandwiched between them. Both metal layers should be thin so
that the top metal layer allows the incident light couple into the structure, and, the
bottom layer allows the light couple out of the structure and have a significant trans-
mission. In other words, the MIM configuration acts like a Fabry-Perot cavity, in
which the metal layers play the role of partially transparent mirrors and the dielectric
layer fills the space between the mirrors. The physical phenomenon taking place in
this cavity is that the incident light is partially reflected from the top metal-air inter-
face, and partially penetrates into metal, and eventually penetrates into the cavity. The
light is reflected back and forth between two semi-transparent metals and travels in
the dielectric region of the MIM resonator. In each reflection, some part of light
transmits through the bottom metal layer, eventually leading a significant portion of
the incident light to be transmitted through the structure. Because of the Fabry-Perot-
like behavior of the MIM cavity, not all the spectrum of the incident light gets trapped
inside the cavity. Only spectral components corresponding to the resonance wave-
length of the MIM cavity get trapped and eventually transmitted. The resonance
wavelength of the MIM cavity, which determines the narrow transmission spectrum
of this MIM filter, follows the equation [30]:
 2 
2  ni di  b  t  2 m (6.1)
 res 
where λres, ni, and di denote the resonance wavelength of the MIM filter, the refractive
index, and the thickness of the dielectric layer, respectively. The second and third
terms in the left-hand side, φb and φt, denote the phase shift due to reflection from the
bottom and the top metal layers, respectively. Finally, m in the right-hand side is an
75
integer that determines the order of the MIM cavity mode. For the light to be trapped
inside the MIM cavity, the phase condition in equation (6.1) must be satisfied. This
means that the phase accumulated in a full round-trip inside the cavity, which in-
cludes the effect of reflection from the metal layers (left-hand side of equation (6.1))
should be an integer multiple of 2π to enable the constructive interference of partially
transmitted waves in each full round trip. Eventually, this constructive interference
leads to the enhanced transmission of light through the cavity.
To calculate the transmission for the studied structures, the Transfer Matrix Meth-
od (TMM) is adopted in this work. The TMM calculations are verified by using Finite
Difference Time Domain (FDTD) simulations performed by Lumerical FDTD solu-
tions, a commercial FDTD software package [113]. Details of the TMM calculations
are presented in the Supplementary Information.
Figure 6.1: (a) 3D schematic of the MIM filter and, (b) the cross-section of the struc-
ture in (x,z)-plane. The names assigned to the thickness of layers are demonstrated in
(b).
Now, we present the circuit model of the studied structure, which is built by using
the transmission line (TL) theory. It is noteworthy that circuit models are quite uni-
versal. They have successfully been used in analysis and design of various optical
[135], terahertz [64, 65, 136], and microwave [137] structures. In our case, the circuit
76
model significantly simplifies the calculation of the reflection phases for the bottom
and the top metal layers, i.e., φb and φt. The rigorous electromagnetic approach is sig-
nificantly more complex compared to the circuit theory approach we use here. It has
to be mentioned that, to our knowledge, the circuit theory approach has not been ap-
plied in earlier works for the reflection phase calculations in MIM structures. In addi-
tion to the simplicity, it allows us to predict the resonance wavelength with perfect
accuracy, as will be demonstrated in the next section.
The circuit model of the proposed structure is presented in Fig. 6.2. Zt, kt, and dt
are the normalized (to free space impedance) characteristic impedance, propagation
constant, and the thickness of the transmission line for the top metal layer. By chang-
ing the subscripts of the same parameters from t to i or b, the similar parameters are
introduced for the dielectric or the bottom metal layer, respectively. Z0 is the free-
space impedance and its normalized value is 1.
Figure 6.2: Circuit model of the structure using the transmission line theory. The in-
cident light approaches from the left side.
In order to calculate the reflection coefficient of the top and bottom metal layers,
one needs the input impedances seen from the metal-dielectric interfaces towards the
metal layers. The input impedance seen from the interface of the top metal layer and
the dielectric layer is denoted by Zin,t in the Fig. 6.2. Zin,b in this figure is the same pa-
rameter corresponding to the bottom metal layer. Zin,t is indeed the transformed im-
pedance of air through the top metal layer. It is obtained using the following equation
[112]:
77
1  jZt tan  kt dt 
Zin,t  Zt (6.2)
Zt  j tan  kt dt 
Zin,b can be calculated similarly, just by changing the subscripts from t to b in equa-
tion (6.2).
The reflection coefficients of the top metal layer and the bottom metal layer are
named as rt and rb, respectively. rt can be calculated as follows:
Zin ,t  Zi
rt  (6.3)
Zin ,t  Zi
rb is calculated similarly, by replacing Zin,t with Zin,b. rt and rb are, in general case,
complex numbers which can be written in the phasor form as follows:
rt  rt t (6.4a)
rb  rb b (6.4b)
Now, the calculation methods are elevated in detail, so we can calculate the trans-
mission spectrum of an MIM filter. The top and the bottom metal layers both are cho-
sen to be Ag with the thickness of 25 nm. The refractive index and the thickness of
the dielectric layer are 2.2 and 70 nm, respectively. The thickness of the dielectric
layer is chosen to have the resonance wavelength and the transmission band at the
visible range. Fig. 6.3 shows the transmission spectrum of this MIM structure, which
is calculated by using the TMM method.
To show that the resonance wavelength of the MIM cavity-based filter is correctly
determined by (1), the total phase accumulated in a round-trip inside the cavity, φtot,
which is given by the sum of the three terms in the left-hand side of (1), is calculated
78
Figure 6.3: The transmission spectrum (blue line) of the MIM structure with the metal
layers chosen as Ag and the values of ni, dt, di, and db being 2.2, 25 nm, 70 nm, and
25 nm, respectively; the corresponding vertical axis being on the right side of the plot
in blue color. The accumulated round-trip phase (red line) according to equation (1)
calculated by using the proposed circuit model; the corresponding vertical axis being
on the left side of the plot in red color.
using the circuit model, as explained above. The obtained φtot of this structure is
shown in Fig. 6.3 in red color together with the transmission spectrum shown in blue
color. As follows from (1), φtot must be equal to an integer multiple of 2π, m ≥ 0. In
Fig. 6.3, we have shown the point, at which this condition is satisfied for m=0. As
seen from Fig. 6.3, the resonance wavelength found from the phase condition perfect-
ly matches the resonance wavelength or the peak wavelength of the transmission
spectrum and is equal here to 550 nm.
For a better understanding of the electromagnetic phenomena occurring inside the

structure, the magnitude of the electric (E) and magnetic (H) field distributions along
the z-axis (normal to the layers of the structure), versus wavelength are shown in fig-
ures 6.4(a) and 6.4(b), respectively. The dashed vertical lines in these figures corre-
spond to the resonance wavelength which is equal to 550 nm. From both figures, it is
clearly seen that the structure supports a cavity resonance mode at this wavelength,
79
Figure 6.4: Contour plots of the magnitude of (a) the electric and, (b) the magnetic
field in different parts of the structure, the transmission spectrum of which is shown
in Fig. 6.3, versus the wavelength. The vertical dashed line crosses the wavelength of
550 nm, which corresponds to the resonance of this MIM filter.
which is trapped inside the dielectric layer. It becomes more obvious while looking at
the E field distribution.
The other explanation of this phenomenon is that the field distributions convey the
existence of the even mode supported by the MIM resonator at the resonance wave-
length (see Fig. 6.4(b)). However, since the metal layers are not infinite in terms of
their thickness, this supported mode is a leaky mode which can be coupled to the in-
cident and transmitted plane waves leading to enhanced transmission at the resonance
wavelength.
6.3 Optimization of the Structure
In this section, we will investigate the effect of the dimensions and materials on the
transmission spectrum and optimize the proposed structure.
To explore the effect of the thickness of the dielectric layer on the transmission
spectrum, we refer to equation (6.1). The term nidi on the left-hand side of this equa-
tion is actually the optical beam path inside the cavity. The main approach to tune the
transmission spectrum is to modulate the beam path. It is obvious from the equation
80
that by increasing the path, the resonance wavelength or λres increases as well, or, in
other words, it experiences a red-shift. Therefore, to tune the transmission spectrum,
one can change either di or ni. Figs. 6.5(a) and 6.5(c) show the transmission spectrum
of the MIM structure for different thicknesses of the dielectric layer. The transmission
profiles presented in Fig. 6.5(a) are calculated using the TMM method, and the ones
shown in Fig. 6.5(c) are simulated by employing the Lumerical FDTD Solutions
[113]. The metal layers are 25 nm thick and their material is chosen as Ag, and ni is
equal to 2.2. The red-shift in the transmission spectrum can be observed while in-
creasing di. Figs. 6.5(b) and 6.5(d) demonstrate the transmission spectra of the struc-
ture for different values of ni, which are calculated using the TMM and the FDTD
methods, respectively. di is assumed to be 70 nm thick and the metal layers are com-
pletely the same as the ones for Fig. 6.5(a). It can be seen that by increasing ni, the
resonance wavelength of the transmission increases. To obtain a more precise image
about the spectrum tuning effects, Figs. 6.5(e) and 6.5(f) depict the contour plots of
the transmission spectrum versus the wavelength for varying values of di and ni, re-
spectively. Both contour plots are calculated using the TMM method. The corre-
sponding color to each wavelength is also shown below the plots of Figs. 6.5(e) and
6.5(f) to help visualizing the change of the output color. It is seen from Fig. 6.5(f) that
a less than twofold difference in ni is required to cover the whole visible spectrum.
However, the important restriction is that the above-mentioned tunings can be ob-
tained when the changes are made at the stage of fabrication, i.e., by either changing
the dielectric thickness or replacing the dielectric material with another dielectric with
a different refractive index.
Here, by using an EO dielectric material, the refractive index of which changes

while being under variations of applied voltage, the tunability of the transmission
spectrum, like that in Fig. 6.5(b), can be realized in an active way after the fabrica-
tion. This is the basis of this work, which will be explored in the next section.
In order to design a color filter with a reasonably high quality factor (i.e., narrow
bandwidth) and at the same time to have an appropriate transmission intensity, the
choice of metals and the optimization of their thickness are of high importance. As it
will be shown below, it is critical for the color filter performance.
81
Figure 6.5: The transmission spectrum of the MIM filter calculated for different val-
ues of di by using (a) the TMM, and, (c) the FDTD method, and for different values
of ni by using (b) the TMM, and, (d) the FDTD method. Contour plots of the trans-
mission spectra of the MIM filter (e) for varying values of di when ni is 2.2, and, (f)
for varying values of ni when di is 70 nm, versus the wavelength, which are calculated
by TMM, and, the output color as a function of wavelength is also shown below the
plots in (e) and (f). In all cases, the material of both metal layers is chosen as Ag and
the layers are 25 nm thick.
Figure 6.6(a) depicts the transmission spectrum of the MIM structure for ni and di
being equal to 2.2 and 70 nm, respectively, in the case of using all possible four com-
82
binations of Silver (Ag) and Gold (Au) as the top and the bottom metal layers with
the thickness of 25 nm. The two metal names in the legend of the figure, left and right
ones, correspond to the top and the bottom metal layers, respectively. It can be seen
that the best result is obtained in the case of using Ag for both the top and the bottom
metal layers, both in terms of the transmission strength and the higher quality factor.
It can be observed that by replacing Au and Ag in the positions of the top and the bot-
tom metal layers, the transmission spectrum remains the same. The complex refrac-
tive index data of Ag are taken from Palik [138] (0-2µm) and for Au, they are taken
from Johnson and Christy [139].
Figure 6.6: The transmission spectrum of the MIM filter calculated (a) for all possible
combinations of Ag and Au used in the metal layers, and for different pairs of (b) un-
equal and (c) equal values of dt and db when di is 70 nm and ni is 2.2, and both the
metal layers are chosen as 25 nm thick Ag.
83
Now, as the final step for the optimization of the structure, we investigate the ef-
fect of the thickness of the top and the bottom metal layers. Figure 6.6(b) shows the
transmission spectrum for the case of dt ≠ db. The results also show that similar to re-
placing one metal by another, like in Fig. 6.6(a), there is no difference when inter-
changing the thicknesses of the top and the bottom metal layers. Fig. 6.6(c) demon-
strates the calculated transmission of the structure when dt = db. It is obvious from
Figs. 6.6(b) and 6.6(c) that by choosing thinner metal layers, the transmission ampli-
tude increases, however, this comes at the cost of losing the quality factor and the
sharpness of the spectrum of the color filter. Taking this trade-off behavior into ac-
count, based on the calculations presented above, we choose the thickness of each of
the top and the bottom metal layers to be 25 nm to achieve a reasonable compromise
between the quality factor and transmission strength.
From Fig. 6.6 it is observed that by changing the thickness or the material of the
metal layers, the resonance wavelength shifts as well. This may seem counter intui-
tive at first, but it can be clearly explained based on the previously presented results
for the reflection phases, which are obtained from the circuit model. Indeed, any
change in the choice of metal or the thickness of the top metal layer changes the val-
ues of Zt, kt, or dt. Subsequently, the value of Zin,t (equation (6.2)) and therefore the
values of rt and especially φt (equation (6.3)) are changed. In a similar manner, any
change in the bottom metal layer leads to a change in the value of φb. Therefore, the
changes of the metal layers modulate the values of reflection phase shifts, and this
leads to that the resonance wavelength experiences a shift (see equation (6.1)).
To briefly summarize, we have so far optimized the color filter by choosing the
appropriate metal to be Ag and the thickness of the top and bottom metal layers to be
25 nm, both. We also explained in-detail the effects exerted by the basic parameters
on the quality factor, transmission intensity, and the resonance wavelength of this
MIM filter.
84
6.4 Electrical Tuning
As shown in the previous section, a less than twofold difference in ni should be suffi-
cient to cover the whole visible spectrum. The required difference can be realized by
implementing the electrical tunability through the use of DAST, an EO material, as
the dielectric layer. DAST has a large EO coefficient equal to 3.41 nm/V [97, 140-
142]. The refractive index of DAST is a function of the applied voltage and can be
written as
dn  V 
ni  n0    (6.5)
du  di 
where di denotes the thickness of DAST sandwiched between the two metal layers
and V is the applied voltage; dn/du= 3.41 nm/V is the EO coefficient with u being the
applied electric field, and n0 = 2.2 is the refractive index of DAST at V=0.
Fig. 6.7(a) depicts the schematic of the structure with applied voltage. Fig. 6.7(b)
shows the transmission spectrum for different values of the applied voltage when di is
70 nm. It is obvious from this figure that by varying the voltage from -12 to +12 volts
almost the whole visible spectrum can be covered by the output transmission color of
this MIM filter. Fig. 6.7(c) demonstrates the continuous tuning of the transmission
spectrum by plotting the contour plots of the transmission versus the wavelength and
applied voltage. For a better visualization of the color tunability, the output color as a
function of wavelength is also shown below the plot of Fig. 6.7(c).
The 3D surface plot of the accumulated phase in a round-trip inside the cavity, φtot,
is shown in Fig. 6.7(d) as a function of wavelength and the applied voltage. The inter-
section of the surface corresponding to φtot with the plane of zero-phase (the first in-
teger multiple of 2π) determines the points of resonance and, thus, the expected peaks
of transmission spectra. It can be seen that the intersection with zero-phase plane (the
resonance wavelength) increases from around 400 nm to around 700 nm by increas-
ing the applied voltage. The resonance wavelength versus the voltage is plotted in
Fig. 6.7(e). Here, the wavelengths are calculated by finding the peak of the transmis-
sion spectrum from the TMM method, and are also calculated from the intersection of
85
Figure 6.7: (a) 3D schematic of the electrically tunable color filter ,(b) the transmis-
sion spectrum of the color filter for different values of the applied voltage, (c) contour
plots of the transmission spectra at continuous variation of applied voltage, the output
color as a function of wavelength is also shown below the plot, (d) 3D surface plot of
φtot versus wavelength and applied voltage; the meshed plane shows the zero-phase
plane, and, (e) the resonance wavelengths versus the applied voltage calculated from
the phase condition (equation 6.1) and from the TMM method .
φtot with zero-phase plane shown in Fig. 6.7(d). There is a perfect agreement between
the two methods. The results presented in Fig. 6.7(e) clearly show that the fine and
86
continuous tuning of the output color can be achieved by varying the applied voltage
from -12 V to +12 V. Based on these results, the average shift in the resonance wave-
length for every 10 V increment in applied voltage is 105.4nm, which is a great num-
ber compared to the previous works [68, 97, 143, 144]. For instance, in the design
proposed in [59], a less than 50 nm shift of the resonance wavelength is obtained in
the visible regime by the application of 160 V. In the design proposed in [17], a 40
nm shift is obtained with 50 V. Also in [46], the resonance peak shifts 22.5 nm per
10 V. Finally, in [4], a less than 100 nm shift is achieved in the near-infrared region
by a 70 V applied voltage. Therefore, our proposed design is really power-efficient.
It is also expected that the suggested structure has the potential of electrical tuna-
bility in the case of oblique incidence. By applying the necessary changes to the
Figure 6.8: The transmission spectrum of the electrically tunable color filter for dif-
ferent values of the applied voltage at the incidence angle of 45 degrees, for (a) TM
and (b) TE polarization, calculated by the FDTD method, and for (c) TM and (d) TE
polarization, calculated by the TMM method.
87
TMM calculations, the transmission spectrum of the structure for the incidence angle
of 45 degrees has been calculated. The results are shown in Fig. 6.8 for both TM and
TE polarizations. They confirm that the tunability is nearly the same as at normal in-
cidence; i.e., almost all the visible range gets covered by sweeping the voltage be-
tween -12 and +12 volts.
The obtained results show that by the use of this simple geometry, and by the cor-
rect and optimized choice of materials and dimensions, a powerful tuning of the color
of the MIM cavity based filter in the visible region can be obtained. The proposed
structure covers the whole visible region by varying voltage only from -12 to +12
volts, so it is also power-efficient. This structure does not require any patterning and
lithography and has a total thickness of 120 nm, i.e., it is ultra-thin and significantly
light. Therefore, it is perspective for large-area and mass production of electrically
tunable color filters.
6.5 Conclusion
The general concept, theoretical background, and in-detail design steps of an MIM
cavity based, electrically tunable color filter are presented. The effect of each design
parameter has been investigated. An unprecedentedly simple approach has been sug-
gested for the precise calculation of the resonance wavelength of the MIM structures,
which is based on the circuit theory. The optimized electrically tunable structure
which has the total thickness of 120 nm gets tuned from transmission output spectrum
of the violet color to the red color, by only varying the applied voltage from -12 to
+12 volts. The electrical tuning is continuous and covers the whole visible region.
The proposed design has an important advantage of being lithography-free, which
makes it a great candidate for large-area and mass production of tunable color filters.
Our design is also relatively power-efficient compared to the earlier works. The pre-
sented structure can be used in a large number of applications such as optical com-
munication and switching, displays, imaging devices, and color-tunable windows.
88
Chapter 7
Multifunctional Polarization-Sensitive
Beam Deflector and Angular Filter
7.1 Introduction
In this section, we experimentally report a simple and cost-effective structure with an

unprecedentedly wideband, wide-angle, and highly efficient beam deflection to the -
1st reflection order in the Near-Infrared region. In addition, it has a strong switching
efficiency between the TE and TM polarization for this behavior. Moreover, it shows
multifunctional SF behavior for different diffraction orders and different polarizations
at specific frequency domains. In particular, it performs as band-pass, low-pass, and
band-stop spatial filter in different scenarios. In addition to these functionalities, the
structure works as an efficient beam-splitter in for TE polarization at an specific
wavelength range. The structure consists of silicon nanorods patterned on top of a
dielectric spacer deposited over an Aluminum back reflector. Its simple design, along
with the wideband, wide-angle, and efficient deflection, being polarization switcha-
ble, and having multi-functional SF and beam-splitting performances makes this
structure a promising candidate for variety of applications including optical commu-
nications, sensing, detection, laser optics, spectroscopy, and imaging.
89
Three-dimensional and two-dimensional schematics of the structure are shown in Fig.

7.1(a) and (c), respectively. Incident, 0 order (specular reflection) and -1 order reflec-
tion beams are also shown in Fig. 7.1(c). As it can be observed, the structure consists
of a periodic array of Si nanorods patterned on top of an SiO2 (silica) spacer layer
coated over an Aluminum (Al) layer. As shown in Fig. 7.1(c), p, w, h, d, and b denote
the period, width of nanorods, height of nanorods, thickness of silica layer, and thick-
ness of the bottom Al layer, respectively. In order to block all the transmission, the
bottom metallic layer must be sufficiently thick therefore we have conservatively
chosen b to be 150 nm. Moreover, the optimized values of p, w, h, and d are 1250,
150, 180, and 150 nm, respectively. It is noteworthy that the dimensions are not strict-
ly chosen and simulations have confirmed that the structure has a good fabrication
tolerance. In other words, the result is almost robust to small deviations of the dimen-
sions from the abovementioned values. Moreover, even big deviations from the opti-
mal dimensions may affect the desired result of the structure, but still keeps the main
performance features such as high efficiency and wideband behavior. Therefore, the
wideband and wide-angle functionality of the structure is not an accidental coinci-
dence and the result of optimizing the dimensions, and is rather the result of the na-
ture of this design. Moreover, Fig. 7.1(b) demonstrates Scanning Electron Microsco-
py (SEM) image of the top view of the fabricated sample. For more information on
the sample fabrication, see the “fabrication” section.
The deflection efficiency is defined as the ratio of the power transferred to any
specific reflection order to the total reflection, where the total reflection is the sum of
the powers transferred to all reflection orders. The deflection efficiency (D.E) of the
i’th order is calculated as follows:
Ri R
D.E   i (7.1)
 Ri
Rtot
where Ri and Rtot denote the reflection of the i’th order and the total reflection, respec-
tively.
90
(a) (b)
(c)
Figure 7.1: a) 3D schematic of the structure, b) SEM image of the top view of the fab-
ricated sample, and c) 2D cross-section of the of the structure along with the schemat-
ic of the incident, 0 order reflection, and -1 order diffraction beams.
The structure is designed in a way that it has a very efficient wide-angle and wide-
band deflection to the –1 order for the TE polarization (when the electric field of the
incidence beam is parallel to nanorods). This feature is polarization sensitive and can
be strongly switched by changing the polarization, i.e. the structure has almost zero
deflection efficiency in -1 order for the TM polarization (when the electric field of the
incidence beam is perpendicular to nanorods).
To demonstrate this issue, the simulated deflection efficiency of the -1 order (D.E
(-1)) of the structure as a function of incidence angle is plotted and shown in Fig.
7.2(a), at four different constant wavelengths, for the TE polarization. The simula-
tions are carried out using FDTD Lumerical software [113]. For more information on
91
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
(e) (f)
Figure 7.2: Simulated deflection efficiency of -1 order of the structure for TE polari-
zation as a function of a) incidence angle and b) wavelength. Measured deflection ef-
ficiency contour plots of a) TE polarization -1 order, b) TE polarization 0 order, c)
TM polarization -1 order, and d) TM polarization 0 order, as a function of wavelength
and incidence angle. The white dashed lines in (c) represent iso-lines of constant -1
order reflection angles of -30, -40, and -50 degrees. The black dashed line in (c) rep-
resent the border where -1 order starts to appear.
92
the simulation details, see the “simulation” section. The four wavelengths are chosen
as 1100, 1300, 1500, and 1700 nm. It can be observed that at a constant wavelength,
the structure has high D.E (-1) in a wide angle range for the TE polarization.
Now, in order to observe the wideband behavior of the structure in the frequency
(wavelength) domain, the simulated D.E (-1) of the structure is shown as a function of
wavelength for four different incidence angles in Fig. 7.2(b) for the case of TE polari-
zation. Similarly, it can be observed that the structure shows a very strong D.E (-1) in
a wide wavelength range and for various incidence angles, for the case of TE polari-
zation.
It was already demonstrated that the structure not only has a wideband and wide
angle highly efficient deflection to the -1st order. Therefore, it is better to discuss D.E
(-1) as a function of both angle of incidence and wavelength and plot it for both polar-
izations. In order to calculate the deflection efficiency of any specific reflection order,
we must have the total reflection which is distributed among all the reflection orders
(see Eq. (7.1)), so that we have calculated the reflection power of all reflection orders.
D.Es of -1st and 0th orders of reflection are shown as contour plots as a function of
wavelength and incidence angle for the TE polarization in Figs. 7.2(c),(d), respective-
ly, and for the TM polarizations in Figs. 7.2(e),(f), respectively.
It can be observed in Fig. 7.2(c) that for TE polarization, the structure retains high
deflection efficiency for -1 order in an ultra-wideband and wide angle range, general-
ly in NIR. On the other hand, as can be observed in Fig. 7.2(e) that, for the case of
TM polarization, the structure shows very low D.E (-1) in the same range of wave-
length and incidence angles. Moreover, it can be observed in Fig. 7.2(d) that the de-
flection efficiency of the 0th order (specular reflection) of the TE polarization is very
low in the same region where D.E (-1) of this polarization is high. In other words, in a
wideband and wide-angle range, the reflection power is transferred to the -1 order
from the specular (0) reflection order, for the case of TE polarization. It can be ob-
served in the right edge of efficient deflection region that this power transition from
the 0 to the -1 order is very sharp and strong, and the reflected power coupled to the 0
order immediately drops significantly by entering the deflection region. This edge is
showed by black dashed line in Fig. 7.2(c) which represents the border at which -1
93
order of reflection starts to appear. Furthermore, it can be seen that D.E (0) is high as
expected, for the TM polarization. Therefore, this phenomenon can be interpreted in
another way. By switching the polarization from TE to TM, the reflected power
switches from zero to -1 reflection order, for a wide range of incidence angles and for
a broad wavelength range.
Figure 7.3 shows the experimental results measured from the fabricated sample,
the SEM image of which is shown in Fig. 7.1(b). Figures 7.3(a) and (b) demonstrate
contour plots of D.E (-1) as a function of wavelength and incidence angle, represent-
ing measured and experimental results, respectively. It is observable from the meas-
ured range that there is a good agreement between the experiment and simulation and
in addition, the fabricated device also shows the expected broadband and wide-angle
efficient deflection in the measured range. Moreover, Fig. 7.3(c) demonstrates the
measured D.E (-1) as a function of wavelength for different incidence angles ranging
from 55 to 75 degrees, for the TE polarization. Also, Fig. 7.3(c) illustrates the meas-
ured D.E (-1) as a function of incidence angle for fixed different wavelength values,
for the same polarization.
(a) (b)
Figure 7.3: Measured deflection efficiency contour plots of -1 reflection order of the
structure for a) TE and b) TM polarizations, as a function of wavelength and inci-
dence angle.
As it can be observed in the plots of Fig. 7.3, the wavelength range and incidence
angle of the measurements of D.E (-1) are limited to 1000-1540 nm, and 55-75 de-
grees, respectively. This is due to the fact that the detector had to be in a specific po-
94
sition for each wavelength and for each incidence angle to measure an specific order
of the reflected beam, and the measuring device (J.A. Woollam Co. Inc. VASE Ellip-
someter) has limitations in terms of the position of detector with respect to the source.
For more information on the measurement details, see the “characterization” section.
The angle of the output-coupling i’th order reflected wave is a function of both
wavelength and incidence angle, and is calculated as follows:
i
sin(out ,i )  sin(in )  (7.2)
p
where p, λ, θin, and θout,i denote the period, wavelength, incidence angle, and i’th or-
der reflection angle, respectively. Given the limitations of the rotation and position of
the detector in the measuring device, for some wavelengths at some specific inci-
dence angles, the -1 reflection order was not measurable.
For the purpose of a clear demonstration of variation of θout,i by θin and λ, iso-lines
of constant output angle at -1 order are presented using white dashed lines for three
different constant values of θout,-1 of -30, -40, and -50 degrees as a function of wave-
length and incidence angle.
In addition to the most important and main feature of this structure which is having
a highly-efficient, wideband and wide-angle domain of deflection to the -1 order, and
being polarization switchable for this behavior, it demonstrates multiple interesting
functionalities as different types of spatial filter (incidence angle domain). First of all,
around the wavelength of 900 nm, a band-stop spatial filter (SF) can be observed for
the 0 order of TE polarization, which is shown in Fig. 7.2(d). To demonstrate it more
clearly, Fig. 7.4(a) shows D.E (0) of the TE polarization as a function of incidence
angle at three slices of fixed wavelengths of 890, 900, and 910 nm. A clear band-stop
SF can be observed for these wavelength values at 0 order. Secondly, at wavelengths
higher than around 1300 nm, we can observe a low-pass SF behavior in the 0 order of
TE polarization in Fig. 7.2(d). To illustrate this issue, D.E (0) of TE polarization as a
function of incidence angle at four slices of fixed wavelengths of 1500, 1700, 1900,
95
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
Figure 7.4: Spatial filter functionalities of the structure. Deflection efficiency of a) TE

polarization at 0 order at the wavelengths of 890, 900, and 910 nm, b) TE polarization
at 0 order at the wavelengths of 1500, 1700, 1900, and 2100 nm, c) TE polarization at
-2 order at the wavelengths of 770,780, and 790 nm, and d) TM polarization at -3 or-
der at the wavelengths of 550, 560, and 570 nm.
and 2100 nm is plotted and shown in Fig. 7.4(b), where the low-pass SF behavior is
available. As the wavelength increases, the right edge of the pass-band SF shifts to-
ward higher angles which is also evident from the contour plot of D.E (0) in Fig.
7.2(d). Moreover, Fig. 7.4(c) demonstrates D.E (-2) of TE polarization as a function
of incidence angle at three slices of fixed wavelengths of 770, 780, and790 nm. Simi-
larly, Fig. 7.4(d) depicts D.E (-3) of TM polarization as a function of incidence angle
96
at three slices of fixed wavelengths of 550, 560, and 570 nm. A band-pass SF behav-
ior of the structure is quite obvious in both figures.
(a) (b)
(c)
Figure 7.5: Beam splitter functionality of the structure. Deflection efficiency of TE

polarization at a) -1 order, b) -2 order, and c) sum of -1 and -2 orders, at the wave-
lengths of 1030, 1050, and 1070 nm.
So far, it is shown that the structure, in addition to polarization switching feature

and ultra-wideband and wide-angle beam deflection, functions as band-pass, band-
stop, or low-pass spatial filter, depending on the reflection order and polarization. It
was also shown that the structure partially shows polarization independent behavior
for 0 order. In addition to these features, the structure shows beam-splitting function-
ality in a relatively wide-angle range for TE polarization. Figs. 7.5(a,b,c) demonstrate
97
D.E (-1), D.E (-2), and D.E (-1)+ D.E (-2), respectively, for TE polarization as a func-
tion of incidence angle at three slices of fixed wavelengths of 1030, 1050, and 1070
nm. It can be observed in these figures that for incidence angles approximately larger
than 40 degrees, we have wide-angle beam-splitting between -1 and -2 orders of TE
polarization around the wavelength of 1050 nm. It is evident from Fig. 7.5(c) that the
sum of these two orders is close to unity and it can be observed in Fig. 7.5(a,b) that
their sum is almost equally distributed among these two orders. In other words, the
reflected beam power is almost split between these two reflection orders for a wide
range of incidence angles.
7.3 Conclusion
A multi-functional, highly efficient, ultra-wideband and wide-angle beam deflector

and spatial filter was experimentally presented. The structure consists of simple-to-
fabricate elements. This design transfers the reflected power to -1 order in a wideband
and wide-angle range in a very efficient way for the TE polarization. By switching
the polarization from TE to TM, the structure does not show this deflective behavior.
Therefore, it has polarization switchability. Moreover, it demonstrates multiple spatial
filter functionalities including band-pass, band-stop, and low-pass angular filtering,
depending on the polarization, wavelength, and reflection order. Furthermore, it
shows a wide-angle beam splitting between the -1 and -2 order of TE polarization.
Having high efficiency along with multiple functionalities which is accompanied by a
simple design, this structure can serve as a promising candidate for optical communi-
cation, spectroscopy, sensing, and laser optic applications.
98
7.4 Methods
7.4.1 Simulation
The simulations are carried out using the commercial Lumerical FDTD software
[113]. A 2D simulation environment is used in the xy coordinate system. periodic
boundary condition is used along x-direction, and perfect electric conductor (PEC)
boundary condition is used along y-axis on both sides. BFAST plane-wave is used as
the source of the simulation and the source illuminates the structure in –y direction.
Above the source, there is a DFT monitor to collect the reflected beam. A modified
scripting code taken from the software’s website is used to calculate the power trans-
ferred to different reflection orders.
7.4.2 Fabrication
A 1 cm2 piece of commercial Silicon wafer is used as the substrate. The substrate is
cleaned using Acetone, Isopropanol, and water. Then, a 150 nm thick Al layer is
coated over it with the rate of 0.5 Angstrom/s using a VAKSIS thermal evaporator
device in the chamber pressure of 3e-6 to 5e-6 Torr. Afterwards, a 150 nm Silica lay-
er is coated over the Al layer using VAKSIS electron-beam evaporator in the same
rate and chamber pressure. After that, 180 nm Silicon is coated over it using the same
e-beam evaporator device. Then, an area of 1 mm2 is patterned using Electron Beam
Lithography. Finally, the sample is etched using the lift-off process.
7.4.3 Characterization
Measurements are carried out using J.A. Woollam Co. Inc. VASE Ellipsometer. Two
lenses are added and aligned on the source and detector side for aligning the beam on
the patterned area over the sample. The measurement range of the detector starts from
visible and ends in 1540 nm. Moreover, the angle between the source and detector
99
should at least be 30 degrees. The detector arm has the possibility of sweeping the
detection angle with the desired step sizes.
100
Chapter 8
Conclusion
The thesis demonstrated and discussed three major functionalities of metamaterials.

More specifically, broadband absorbers, electrically tunable color filters, and
metasurfaces as beam deflectors and multifunctional angular filters. Most of the
works carried out throughout the thesis were lithography-free which would make
them a promising candidate for mass production.
For the first time, we used the metal of Manganese for broadband absorber appli-
cations and showed in-detail what a promising metal it is for such applications. It was
demonstrated that this metal has better functionality compared to the best other can-
didates for broadband absorption and it is due to its appropriate optical properties. It
was shown that the absolute value of the real part of permittivity of Mn remains very
small compared to the other metals which leads to high field penetration inside it. Be-
ing a lossy metal, it absorbs the highly penetrated electromagnetic field, and as a con-
clusion, it makes a promising absorber metal. It was also shown that even the absorp-
tion of a single planar layer of Mn is significantly better than other metals. These
properties were fully exploited in four different structures as broadband absorbers,
three of which were lithography-free, and therefore, very promising for mass produc-
tion. Such absorbers can be used in thermal emission, shielding, photovoltaics and
energy applications, photodetectors, and thermal imaging. As a conclusion, we pro-
pose that Mn should be tried in almost all broadband absorbers in the design step. In
addition, it would be nice to try the usage of the structure in chapter 5 as a solar cell
101
or water splitter and by having high and broadband absorption, we expect to see high
conversion efficiency.
Moreover, it was shown that by the proper use of an electro-optic material abbre-
viated as “DAST” in the MIM configuration, lithography-free, electrically tunable
color filter is achievable. By putting such a structure in the path of the white light
beam and looking at it from the other side and ranging the applied voltage from -12 to
+12 volts, we can see all the colors in the visible range. This structure can have nice
applications in optical communications and displays. It would be beneficial to fabri-
cate this structure and see the experimental realization of this design in a display con-
figuration while there is no lithography needed.
While achieving efficient beam deflection is a challenge, obtaining it in a wide-

angle and wideband range is more of a challenge. We showed that this challenge can
be overcome by the proper design of the dimensions in Silicon nanorods. Moreover,
at a time when many previous works use a whole new structure to obtain one angular
filtering functionality, the same structure could serve as band-pass, band-stop, and
low-pass angular filters, demonstrating multi-functional angular filtering functionali-
ties. Such a structure would be very beneficial for optical communcations, sensing,
and imaging. As a future outlook, this work can be shifted to the visible region with
the appropriate rescaling to obtain multi-functional angular filtering or deflection in
the visible range and for different colors.
In the first chapter, the background and the thesis outline and classification was
presented.
Chapters 2 to 5 were all based on broadband absorbers that exploited Mn. Com-
pared to the simplicity of the structures, and considering the fact that the structures
are lithography-free, the results were extraordinarily promising. For instance, in chap-
ter 5, UV to FIR absorption was achieved by coating a single layer of Mn over a high-
roughness substrate that includes pyramidal features on it. Such a result was not pre-
viously achieved even with the inclusion of lithography. Circuit modelling and Trans-
fer Matrix Method calculations were presented in detail.
102
Chapter 6 presented the design of a lithography-free electrically tunable color filter
that would cover the whole visible spectrum. As mentioned above, idea was to im-
plement an electro-optic dielectric in the MIM configuration. The achieved results
confirmed that -12 to 12 volts would be enough to cover the visible spectrum which
makes the structure very power-efficient. Circuit model was also used here to calcu-
late the reflection phases for the resonance mode of the cavity.
Finally, Chapter 7 demonstrated a relatively simple metasurface consisting of Sili-

con nanorods that would result in highly-efficient, wideband and wide-angle beam
deflection. Moreover, the same structure showed multiple functionalities as different
types of spatial (angular) filters.
103
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Appendix A
Publications
1. Majid Aalizadeh, A. Khavasi, B. Butun, and E. Ozbay, “Large-Area,

Cost-Effective, Ultra-Broadband Perfect Absorber Utilizing Manga-
nese in Metal-Insulator-Metal Structure,” Scientific Reports, vol. 8, p.
9162, 2018.
2. Majid Aalizadeh, A. E. Serebryannikov, A. Khavasi, G. A. E.

Vandenbosch, and E. Ozbay, “Toward Electrically Tunable,
Lithography-Free, Ultra-Thin Color Filters Covering the Whole
Visible Spectrum,” Scientific Reports, vol. 8, p. 11316, 2018.
4. Majid Aalizadeh, A. Khavasi, B. Butun, and E. Ozbay, “Lithography-

Free, Manganese-Based Ultra-Broadband Absorption Through Anneal-
ing-Based Deformation of Thin Layers into metal-air composites,” Op-
tics Letters, Doc. ID 369951, 2019.
3. Majid Aalizadeh, A. Khavasi, A. E. Serebryannikov, G. A. E. Van-

denbosch, and E. Ozbay, “A Route to Unusually Broadband Plasmonic
Absorption Spanning from Visible to Mid-infrared,” Plasmonics, 2019.
5. Majid Aalizadeh, M. R. Tavakol, A. Khavasi, M. Yilmaz, and E.

Ozbay, “Electromagnetic Field Tapering in the High-Roughness Sub-
strates Coated by a Thin Film of Manganese: A Lithography-Free Ap-
124
proach to Ultra-Broadband, Wide-Angle, UV to FIR Perfect Absorp-
tion,” Submitted, 2019.
6. Majid Aalizadeh, A. E. Serebryannikov, G. A. E. Vandenbosch, and E.

Ozbay, “High-efficiency, Ultra-wideband and Wide-angle Beam Deflec-
tion and Multi-functional Spatial Filtering with Dielectric Nanorods”, To
be submitted, 2019.
7. A. E. Serebryannikov, Akhlesh Lakhtakia, Majid Aalizadeh, E. Ozbay,

and G. A. E. Vandenbosch, “Temperature-mediated invocation of the
vacuum state for switchable ultrawide-angle and broadband deflec-
tion”, Scientific Reports, vol. 8, p. 15044, 2018.
8. Mohammad H. Aram, Taha Rajabzadeh, Majid Aalizadeh, Sina

Khorasani, “Future of the Nanoelectronics Technology”. Iranian
Journal of Engineering Education vol. 19, no. 75, pp. 23-54, 2017.
125

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METAMATERIALS AS BROADBAND

ABSORBERS, TUNABLE COLOR FILTERS,

Ekmel Özbay (Advisor)

Vakur Behçet Ertürk

Approved for the Graduate School of Engineering and Science:

Keywords: Broadband absorbers, Manganese, electrically tunable, beam deflection,

Metamalzemeler, doğal malzemelerle elde edilemeyen optik işlevleri yerine getire-

Anahtar sözcükler: Geniş bant emiciler, Manganez, elektrikle ayarlanabilen, kiriş

1.1 Background ...................................................................................................1

1.1.1 Broadband Absorbers .......................................................................2

1.1.2 Tunable Color Filters .......................................................................3

1.1.3 Beam Deflectors and Angular Filters ...............................................5

1.2 Thesis Outline................................................................................................6

2 Manganese-Based MIM Cavity 8

2.2 Design and Theory........................................................................................9

2.2.1 Material Optimizations .....................................................................10

2.2.2 Dimension Optimizations.................................................................18

2.3 Results and Discussion .................................................................................21

2.4 Conclusion ....................................................................................................24

2.5 Methods ........................................................................................................25

2.5.2 TMM Calculations ...........................................................................25

2.5.3 FDTD Simulations ...........................................................................28

3 Random Nanoholes for Broadband Absorption 29

3.2 Design and Theory........................................................................................30

3.3 Results and Discussion .................................................................................31

3.4 Conclusion ....................................................................................................38

4 Patterned MIM Embedded with an Ultra-Thin Manganese Film 40

4.2 Design and Theory........................................................................................42

4.2.1 Proposed Structure ...........................................................................42

4.2.2 Material Optimizations.....................................................................42

4.2.3 Dimension Optimizations.................................................................45

4.3 Results and Discussion .................................................................................47

4.3.1 Absorption of the Optimal Design ..................................................47

4.3.2 Physical Analysis ............................................................................48

4.3.3 Fabrication Tolerance.......................................................................57

4.3.4 Polarization and Incidence Angle Sensitivity ..................................59

5 Manganese-Based Lithography-Free UV to FIR Absorption 62

5.2 Results and Discussion .................................................................................63

5.3 Conclusion ....................................................................................................77

6 Lithography-Free Electrically Tunable Color Filters 79

6.2 Calculation and Analysis .............................................................................80

6.3 Optimization of the Structure .......................................................................85

6.4 Electrical Tuning .........................................................................................90

6.5 Conclusion ...................................................................................................94

7 Multifunctional Polarization-Sensitive Beam Deflector and

7.2 Results and Discussion .................................................................................96

7.3 Conclusion ....................................................................................................104

7.4 Methods ........................................................................................................105

7.4.1 Simulation ........................................................................................105

7.4.3 Characterization ...............................................................................105

2.3 (a) Total characteristic admittance of the structure, calculated by cir-

2.4 Calculated absorption spectrum of MIM structure for the different

2.5 (a) Calculated absorption of MIM structure versus the wavelength

2.6 (a) Measured reflection, transmission and absorption spectrum of the

4.3 Absorption spectra of the structure at different values of the radius of

4.5 (a) Absorption spectra of the optimal structure calculated by FDTD

4.7 The spatial distribution pattern of the magnitude of the y-component

4.8 (a) Absorption spectrum of the periodic array of Ti nanodisks on the