Low cost fabrication of high contrast ratio and high transmission wire grid polarizer by nanoimprint lithography

This paper proposes a novel approach for low cost fabrication of large area wire grid polarizer (WGP). WGPs regarded as one potential alternative to traditional rear polarizer and DBEF possess the advantages of large contrast ratio (CR), high transmission. To date WGPs can be fabricated through electron beam direct write, which is slow and expensive, therefore not suitable for large area application. With the development of nano-fabrication methods, for instance, nanoimprint lithography (NIL), large area WGP can be made at low cost and fast speed. Furthermore, flexible polarizer can also be made through roll-to-roll (R2R) NIL. In this paper, a WGP with high TM transmission of around 85% and low TE transmission down to 0.2% through the visible light spectra will be realized through nanofabrication. The contrast ratio of the WGP can reach >450 with peak value >3000. For the fabrication process, atom layer deposition (ALD) will be utilized to prepare imprint mask which can achieve highly precise control of expected structure. In this paper, characterization of the designed WGP will also be narrated in the back part, including transmission, CR and the SEM schematic diagram. We believe that low cost fabrication method shows the potential to be adopted for industrial fabrication of polarizer in the future.