Color of Copper/Copper oxide

TL;DR

This study demonstrates precise control of copper oxide layer thickness on single-crystal copper films to achieve a full spectrum of colors, enabling applications in structural color and optoelectronics.

Contribution

It introduces a method for coherent propagation of oxidation fronts in copper, allowing full-color tuning via oxide layer control with atomically flat films.

Findings

Achieved nearly full RGB color coverage (~50.4% sRGB) through oxide layer thickness control.

Demonstrated laser-oxide lithography for micron-scale patterning and phase transformation.

Produced structural color by reconstructing dielectric and interference effects.

Abstract

Stochastic inhomogeneous oxidation is an inherent characteristic of copper (Cu), often hindering color tuning and bandgap engineering of oxides. Coherent control of the interface between metal and metal oxide remains unresolved. We demonstrate coherent propagation of an oxidation front in single-crystal Cu thin film to achieve a full-color spectrum for Cu by precisely controlling its oxide-layer thickness. Grain boundary-free and atomically flat films prepared by atomic-sputtering epitaxy allow tailoring of the oxide layer with an abrupt interface via heat treatment with a suppressed temperature gradient. Color tuning of nearly full-color RGB indices is realized by precise control of oxide-layer thickness; our samples covered ~50.4% of the sRGB color space. The color of copper/copper oxide is realized by the reconstruction of the quantitative yield color from oxide pigment (complex dielectric functions of Cu2O) and light-layer interference (reflectance spectra obtained from the Fresnel equations) to produce structural color. We further demonstrate laser-oxide lithography with micron-scale linewidth and depth through local phase transformation to oxides embedded in the metal, providing spacing necessary for semiconducting transport and optoelectronics functionality.