Effects of the morphology of ZnO/Ag interface on the surface-plasmon-enhanced emission of ZnO films

• Published in: Journal of physics. D, Applied physics Vol. 41; no. 20; pp. 205101 - 205101 (4)
• Main Authors: You, J B, Zhang, X W, Fan, Y M, Yin, Z G, Cai, P F, Chen, N F
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bristol IOP Publishing 21.10.2008; Institute of Physics
• Subjects: Collective excitations (including excitons, polarons, plasmons and other charge-density excitations); Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Electronic structure and electrical properties of surfaces, interfaces, thin films and low-dimensional structures; Exact sciences and technology; Multilayers, superlattices; Optical properties and condensed-matter spectroscopy and other interactions of matter with particles and radiation; Optical properties of low-dimensional, mesoscopic, and nanoscale materials and structures; Physics; Surface and interface electron states; Interfacial layer; Silver; Atomic force microscopy; Particle size; Surface morphology; Photoluminescence; Zinc oxide; Solid-solid interfaces; Microstructure; Surface plasmons
• ISSN: 0022-3727; 1361-6463
• DOI: 10.1088/0022-3727/41/20/205101

The effects of the surface morphology of Ag on the surface-plasmon-enhanced emission of ZnO films have been studied for a ZnO/Ag/Si system by photoluminescence spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy. The results indicate that the enhancement of ZnO ultraviolet emission is dependent on the deposition conditions of the Ag interlayers. By examining the dependence of the enhancement ratio of surface-plasmon-mediated emission on the characteristic parameters of Ag surface morphology, we found that the surface plasmon coupling to light is determined by both the Ag particle size and density.