Maskless random antireflective nanotexturing of single crystal SiC

Random nanotexturing of optics and semiconductors has proven to be a highly effective way to produce high transmittivity, low reflective surfaces. Here, the authors report a one-step technique using SF6 reactive ion etching to produce nanotexturing of SiC. The effect of etching process power and time is optimized to demonstrate sub-1% specular reflectance and below 5% total reflectance over the 400–2000 nm spectral range. The technique is applied to compare measurements of a photoconductive switch with untreated and treated surfaces. Using a white light source emitting in the range 400–750 nm, the authors show that the decrease in specular reflectivity results in a 20% increase in the photocurrent response.