Highly Scalable Mastering and Roll-to-Roll Processing of Tuned Spectral Absorbers

Infrared reflection-absorption spectroscopy (IRRAS) allows detection of toxic and combustible materials from distant bases, aircrafts, and even space. Accurate material identification using long-range IRRAS requires large-area calibration targets to account for changing environmental conditions. Plasmonic metal-dielectric-metal (MDM) stacks with nearly perfect, tunable absorption peaks have been demonstrated in small, lab-scale experiments. Despite this promise, fabrication of plasmonic absorbers large enough to serve as remote calibration targets would be prohibitively slow and expensive with traditional lithographic techniques. Smart Material Solutions, Inc. (SMS) overcomes this previously insurmountable obstacle with its patented technology – nanocoining. Nanocoining is more than 500 times faster than competing technologies and is unique in its ability to create seamless drum molds for scalable roll-to-roll (R2R) manufacturing. During the phase I project, SMS and Professor Mark Mirotznik in the University of Delaware (UD) Department of Electrical Engineering designed and fabricated a 150 mm x 150 mm plasmonic absorber using scalable processes. The proposed phase II project will allow SMS and UD to partner with MicroContinuum, Inc. to demonstrate scalable R2R processing methods and use them to fabricate plasmonic MDM stacks based on structures designed and fabricated in phase I. The project will serve as a proof of concept for the scalable manufacturing of a wide variety of advanced surfaces that can enhance, shield, or manipulate electromagnetic waves, enabling game-changing technologies based on plasmonics and metamaterials.