Low Noise and Drift Reconfigurable Solution‐Processed Chalcogenide Phase Change Metasurfaces

TL;DR

A cost-effective method to create chalcogenide materials for optoelectronics is developed, enabling high-performance devices with reduced noise and cost.

Contribution

A solution-processed approach to fabricate high-quality chalcogenide phase change materials is introduced as a low-cost alternative to vacuum-based methods.

Findings

Solution-processed antimony sulfide films show phase change performance comparable to vacuum-deposited materials.

The method allows patterning into polarization-sensitive metasurfaces with large modulation contrasts.

The technique supports integration of emitters and nanoparticles into PCM films for hybrid composites.

Abstract

Chalcogenide glasses are increasingly favoured as the programmable layer of choice in reconfigurable optoelectronic platforms, enabling diverse signal modulation, display, and memory device applications over the past decade. These applications capitalize on the amorphous‐to‐crystalline phase transition of these alloys, often produced using expensive ultrahigh‐vacuum physical vapor deposition (PVD) methods. Here, a cost‐effective, solution‐processed approach is presented to synthesizing chalcogenide phase change materials (PCMs). Our results show that optical‐grade antimony sulfide (Sb2S3) can be deposited onto various substrates at subwavelength thicknesses. Notably, these films demonstrate non‐volatile phase change modulation contrasts comparable to PVD methods, with significantly lower volatile thermo‐optic response, promising enhanced performance by reducing noise and drift. The first reconfigurable phase change chalcogenide metasurface formed from solution‐processed PCM films are also introduced, which can be patterned into polarization‐sensitive subwavelength nanograting metasurfaces without degradation, allowing for period‐dependent resonances and large modulation contrasts. The liquid nature of the deposition technique is perfectly suited for inclusion in display technologies and the integration of various emitters and active nanoparticles into PCM films, paving the way for new hybrid PCM composites, offering numerous solutions for emerging quantum and neuromorphic photonic platforms while lowering production costs.

Chalcogenide glasses, favored in reconfigurable optoelectronics, rely on costly ultra‐high vacuum‐based PVD methods. A cost‐effective, solution‐based approach to synthesize these materials, producing high‐quality antimony sulfide films with comparable phase change performance are introduced. This enables innovative metasurfaces and hybrid composites for advanced quantum and neuromorphic photonics, reducing costs and expanding applications.

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