Porous silicon filters for low-temperature far IR applications

Vladimir Kochergin; Mahavir Sanghavi; Philip R. Swinehart

doi:10.1117/12.615700

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29 August 2005 Porous silicon filters for low-temperature far IR applications

Vladimir Kochergin; Mahavir Sanghavi; Philip R. Swinehart

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Proceedings Volume 5883, Infrared Spaceborne Remote Sensing 2005; 58830T (2005) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.615700
Event: Optics and Photonics 2005, 2005, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

We report the development of novel porous silicon IR filters. The key component of the filter technology is a porous silicon multilayer obtained by the electrochemical etching of single-crystal silicon wafers. The unique property of such a material is the extremely wide transparency range. It will be shown that the transparency range of porous silicon extends from the visible to the far IR region (up to 100μm and above). Good control over the porosity obtained with the electrochemical fabrication method permits the fabrication of the narrow band-pass, band-pass, long wave pass or band-blocking types of filters with pass bands centered anywhere within the transparency range of the material. Such filters have a number of important advantages over multilayer interference filters. Since the filters are made from a single material (rather than through the deposition of multilayers of dissimilar materials), these filters do not exhibit delamination problems and are well suited for operation at cryogenic temperatures. Further, several hundreds of micrometer thick multilayers can be obtained on 4- or 6-inch diameter wafers in a single process run with high lateral uniformity of the transmission spectrum. Methods of enhancement of the environmental and mechanical stability of these filters have been developed as well. The results of experimental testing of such filters are presented.

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Vladimir Kochergin, Mahavir Sanghavi, and Philip R. Swinehart "Porous silicon filters for low-temperature far IR applications", Proc. SPIE 5883, Infrared Spaceborne Remote Sensing 2005, 58830T (29 August 2005); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.615700

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