Fabrication of a broadband anti-reflection layer using metal-assisted chemical etching

In this paper, an easy and cost-efficient method to create a single anti-reflective layer on a silicon substrate is presented. In this experiment, by using the silver nanoparticles on a silicon substrate at room temperature, a porous nanostructure is created. This nanostructure significantly reduces the reflection and increases the transmission in a wide spectral range. By using this method, a porous layer on one side of the silicon substrate is fabricated. The results show that the reflection reduces to 31% and the transmission increases to 68% in the 3500-5000 nm spectral range, and these values are close to the reflection and transmission of a sample with ideal one-sided anti-reflection.