Alloy nanoparticle plasmon resonance for enhancing broadband antireflection of laser-textured silicon surfaces

In this paper, Ag-Au alloy nanoparticles (NPs) were fabricated by dewetting process to enhance the broadband antireflection performance of textured silicon surfaces. The alloy NPs presented a large range of shapes and sizes, which provided an average reflectance (AR) below 4% over the spectral range of 300 similar to 1200 nm, a decrease of similar to 50% and similar to 90% as compared to the corresponding monometallic NPs and the original flat Si surfaces, respectively. The superior broadband antireflection demonstrated by the alloy NPs are attributed to the enhanced light trapping by alloy nanoparticle plasmon resonance. (C) 2011 Optical Society of America