2016/03/07 by Kevin M. McPeak, Sriharsha V. Jayanti, Stephan J. P. Kress +4 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #cond-mat.mtrl-sci #physics.optics
paper · pdf · doi:10.1021/ph5004237
published as ACS Photonics, 2015, 2 (3), pp 326-333 · Optical Materials Engineering Laboratory, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
arxiv created 2016/03/07 · arxiv updated 2016/03/08
High-quality materials are critical for advances in plasmonics, especially as researchers now investigate quantum effects at the limit of single surface plasmons or exploit ultraviolet- or CMOS-compatible metals such as aluminum or copper. Unfortunately, due to inexperience with deposition methods, many plasmonics researchers deposit metals under the wrong conditions, severely limiting performance unnecessarily. This is then compounded as others follow their published procedures. In this perspective, we describe simple rules collected from the surface-science literature that allow high-quality plasmonic films of aluminum, copper, gold, and silver to be easily deposited with commonly available equipment (a thermal evaporator). Recipes are also provided so that films with optimal optical properties can be routinely obtained.