Surface plasmon resonance properties of DC magnetron sputtered Ag nanoislands on ITO-glass and In2O3-PET substrates

Films of Ag nanoislands (NIs) were successfully grown on two different transparent conducting oxide coated substrates (indium tin oxide (ITO) coated glass and indium oxide (In₂O₃) coated polyethylene terephthalate (PET) flexible film) by direct current (DC) magnetron sputtering. The morphology of the Ag NIs was studied using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Both SEM and TEM confirm the formation of silver NIs. To amplify the localised surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect, post-deposition annealing was performed at 200°C for 30 minutes in a nitrogen atmosphere, resulting in tuning the shape and size of the NIs. Optical transmission spectroscopy was performed in the ultraviolet-visible-near-infrared spectral region to examine the SPR characteristics of the Ag NIs deposited on ITO-glass and In₂O₃-PET. Post-deposition annealing is found to tune the SPR wavelength and results in strong enhancement of the SPR of the Ag NIs on both ITO-glass and In₂O₃-PET. DC magnetron sputtering and the post-deposition annealing technique can be applied for the growth of size-controlled Ag NIs. The result can be applied to the enhancement of the efficiency of organic light emitting diodes and solar cells.