Antireflection subwavelength structures (ASSs) are analyzed by using the finite difference time domain (FDTD) method in the visible light spectrum. Low reflectance can be obtained by both the conical and pyramidal shapes over a broadband range. Comparing the reflectance of different structure shapes and aspect ratios by the FDTD method, it shows that the antireflection efficiencies of the pyramidal structures are better than that of the conical structures when the aspect ratio is up to 0.8. It is found that, for the conical structure surface, the average transmittance increases gradually with the aspect ratio and the average transmittance is about 99.6% with the aspect ratio of 2.0. However, for the pyramidal structure with the aspect ratio ranging from 1.0 to 2.0, the average transmittance is up to 99.7%. (C) 2008 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.
