Surface plasmon enhanced ultraviolet emission from ZnO films deposited on Ag∕Si(001) by magnetron sputtering

Abstract

The ZnO films were grown on Ag∕Si(001) substrates by sputtering Ag and ZnO targets successively in a pure Ar ambient. A significant enhancement of ZnO ultraviolet emission and a reduction of its full width of half maximum have been observed while introducing a 100nm Ag interlayer between ZnO film and Si substrate. Furthermore, a complete suppression of the defect related visible emission was also found for the ZnO∕Ag∕Si sample. This improved optical performance of ZnO is attributed to the resonant coupling between Ag surface plasmon and ultraviolet emission of ZnO.