Ion beam modification of plasmonic titanium nitride thin films

• Published in: Journal of materials science Vol. 52; no. 11; pp. 6442 - 6448
• Main Authors: Zhang, Lin-ao, Liu, Hao-nan, Suo, Xiao-xia, Tong, Shou, Li, Ying-lan, Jiang, Zhao-tan, Wang, Zhi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.06.2017; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Carrier density; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Classical Mechanics; Crystallography and Scattering Methods; Energy dissipation; Ion beam assisted deposition; Ion beams; Ion bombardment; Materials Science; Movies; Nitrides; Optical properties; Original Paper; Plasma frequencies; Polymer Sciences; Solid Mechanics; Thin films; Titanium nitride; Energy Loss Function; Titanium Nitride; Plasmonic Property; Lower Optical Loss; Plasmonic Material
• ISSN: 0022-2461; 1573-4803
• DOI: 10.1007/s10853-017-0879-y

Titanium nitride is regarded as an alternative plasmonic material for its tunability and other high performances. In this work, we prepared TiN x thin films by ion beam assisted deposition and studied the effects of assisting ion energy E a on the structural, electrical, optical, and plasmonic properties of the films. The results show that the bombardment of assisting ions causes higher crystallinity and higher resistivity. Both the experimental and fitting results show that assisting ions can improve the plasmonic performance of TiN x thin films. Higher E a leads to lower carrier concentration, lower plasma frequency, and lower optical losses. With E a increasing, the energy loss function shifts toward low photon energy. Importantly, IBAD– TiN x can serve as a promising plasmonic material in visible and near-IR region, and its plasmonic properties can be effectively tuned by assisting ions energy.