Modeling the specular spectral reflectance of partially ordered alumina nanopores on an aluminum substrate

Anodizing of aluminum generates a porous alumina layer comprising cylindrical nanopores (300 nm diameter) extending essentially perpendicular to the substrate. The pore distribution over the surface exhibits a short-distance order close to hexagonal arrangement. On the contrary, long-distance order cannot be defined: the arrangement is not periodic. Visual observation of such nanoporous layers shows a reddish specular reflectance consistent with reflectance spectrum measurements. This work is a parametric study aiming at demonstrating that color effects are caused by the presence of disorder illustrated by the deviations from periodicity in terms of nanopore location and nanopore radius. Using the method of Rigorous Coupled Wave Analysis (RCWA), the reflectance spectrum has been simulated. Although our calculations were done using a simple one-dimensional (1D) model, a fair fit with experimental results is found.