Simulating different manufactured antireflective sub-wavelength structures considering the influence of local topographic variations

Laterally structured antireflective sub-wavelength structures show unique properties with respect to broadband performance, damage threshold and thermal stability. Thus they are superior to classical layer based antireflective coatings for a number of applications. Dependent on the selected fabrication technology the local topography of the periodic structure may deviate from the perfect repetition of a sub-wavelength unit cell. We used rigorous coupled-wave analysis (RCWA) to simulate the efficiency losses due to scattering effects based on height and displacement variations between the individual protuberances. In these simulations we chose conical and Super-Gaussian shapes to approximate the real profile of fabricated structures. The simulation results are in accordance with the experimentally determined optical properties of sub-wavelength structures over a broad wavelength range. Especially the transmittance reduction in the deep-UV could be ascribed to these variations in the sub-wavelength structures.