Welcome to the new version of CaltechAUTHORS. Login is currently restricted to library staff. If you notice any issues, please email coda@library.caltech.edu
Published December 2005 | public
Journal Article

A Novel Silicon Nanotips Antireflection Surface for the Micro Sun Sensor

Abstract

We have developed a new technique to fabricate an antireflection surface using silicon nanotips for use on a micro Sun sensor for Mars rovers. We have achieved randomly distributed nanotips of radii spanning from 20 to 100 nm and aspect ratio of ∼200 using a two-step dry etching process. The 30° specular reflectance at the target wavelength of 1 μm is only about 0.09%, nearly 3 orders of magnitude lower than that of bare silicon, and the hemispherical reflectance is ∼8%. When the density and aspect ratio of these nanotips are changed, a change in reflectance is demonstrated. When surfaces are covered with these nano-tips, the critical problem of ghost images that are caused by multiple internal reflections in a micro Sun sensor was solved.

Additional Information

© 2005 American Chemical Society. Received 26 August 2005. Published online 25 November 2005. Published in print 1 December 2005. The research described in this paper was carried out by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The authors thank Dr. Mark S. Anderson at the JPL for the reflectance measurements. Note Added after ASAP Publication. There was an error in the unit given in the y axis of Figure 7a in the version published ASAP Novermber 25, 2005; the corrected version was published ASAP November 30, 2005.

Additional details

Created:
August 19, 2023
Modified:
October 26, 2023