Black Aluminum: a novel anti-reflective absorbing coating

Black absorbing and antireflective coatings have many optical sensing applications. A process to deposit Black Aluminum, a novel anti-reflective coating has been discovered. Black Aluminum films with controlled thickness were deposited on silicon and their reflection spectra were investigated. In addition, to test the effectiveness of this new material at the device level, pyroelectric devices were fabricated with Black Aluminum acting as the absorbing layer. Significant enhancement in the pyroelectric response is reported for devices coated with Black Aluminum as compared to devices without the Black Aluminum absorbing layer.