The Combined Spectral Response of a MEMS Metamaterial Absorber for the Mid-IR and Its Sub-Wavelength Fabrication Residual Array of Holes

Abstract

Metasurface coatings on a free-standing SiN thin film membrane are fabricated on a Si substrate using masked lithography and CMOS-compatible surface micromachining. The result is a band-limited absorber for the mid-IR, which is part of a microstructure that is attached to the substrate by long and slender suspension beams to provide thermal isolation. As a residual of the fabrication, the regular pattern of sub-wavelength unit cells of 2.6 μm side length, which defines the metasurface, is interrupted by an equally regular array of sub-wavelength holes of 1–2 μm diameter and at 7.8–15.6 μm of pitch. This array of holes is essential for enabling access of the etchant and attack of the underlying layer during fabrication, which ultimately results in the sacrificial release of the membrane from the underlying substrate. As the plasmonic responses of the two patterns interfere, a maximum is imposed on the hole diameter and a minimum on the hole-to-hole pitch. However, the hole diameter should be sufficiently large to allow access of the etchant, while the maximum spacing between holes is set by the limited selectivity of the different materials to the etchant during sacrificial release. The effect of the parasitic hole pattern on the spectral absorption of a metasurface design is analyzed by simulations of the responses of combined holes–metasurface structures. Arrays of 300 × 180 μm2 Al-Al2O3-Al MIM structures are mask-fabricated on suspended SiN beams. The results show that the effect of the array of holes can be disregarded for a hole-to-hole pitch larger than 6 times the side length of the metamaterial until cell, while the diameter of the hole should remain smaller than about 1.5 μm, and their alignment is critical.