Large area Germanium Tin nanometer optical film coatings on highly flexible aluminum substrates

Germanium Tin (GeSn) films have drawn great interest for their visible and near-infrared optoelectronics properties. Here, we demonstrate large area Germanium Tin nanometer thin films grown on highly flexible aluminum foil substrates using low-temperature molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). Ultra-thin (10–180 nm) GeSn film-coated aluminum foils display a wide color spectra with an absorption wavelength ranging from 400–1800 nm due to its strong optical interference effect. The light absorption ratio for nanometer GeSn/Al foil heterostructures can be enhanced up to 85%. Moreover, the structure exhibits excellent mechanical flexibility and can be cut or bent into many shapes, which facilitates a wide range of flexible photonics. Micro-Raman studies reveal a large tensile strain change with GeSn thickness, which arises from lattice deformations. In particular, nano-sized Sn-enriched GeSn dots appeared in the GeSn coatings that had a thickness greater than 50 nm, which induced an additional light absorption depression around 13.89 μm wavelength. These findings are promising for practical flexible photovoltaic and photodetector applications ranging from the visible to near-infrared wavelengths.