Tunable and scalable fabrication of plasmonic dimer arrays with sub-10 nm nanogaps by area-selective atomic layer deposition

Abstract

Nanogaps in metallic nanostructures produce local field enhancements with potential applications in surface enhanced spectroscopy, solar energy conversion, and photocatalysis. Atomic layer deposition is applied as a conformal coating to modify nanogap sizes and tune the optical properties of plasmonic dimer arrays with sub-10 nm nanogaps. Nanostructures are fabricated using layers of gold and palladium to combine features of plasmonics and area-selective atomic layer deposition, where copper metal is deposited on palladium-covered surfaces. Direct measurements of optical extinction for successive smaller nanogaps and thicker copper coatings show that spectral features become broadened at first due to heating-induced shape changes but subsequently sharpen as copper coatings form on palladium structures. Furthermore, longitudinal resonances of plasmonic dimers blue shift for thin coatings due to heating and decreasing aspect ratio, but thicker coatings lead to red shifts due to narrowing nanogaps. Together, these results show that area-selective atomic layer deposition is a promising tool for achieving large area arrays of plasmonic dimers with sub-10 nm nanogaps.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Aug 30, 2021
Source ID
10.1116/6.0001205

Entities

People

  • Brian G. Willis
  • Chengwu Zhang
  • Donal Sheets
  • Jason N. Hancock
  • Jason Tresback
  • Tuo Gao

Organizations

  • Harvard University
  • National Science Foundation
  • Office of Naval Research
  • United States Department of Energy
  • University of Connecticut

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Nanoscale Plasmonic Nanotechnology
  • Organic Chemistry

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics
  • Microelectronics - Graphene