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Ag Nanostructures Produced by Glancing Angle Deposition with Remarkable Refractive Index Sensitivity

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Abstract

Glancing angle deposition is a powerful method for direct fabrication of nanostructures on various substrates. In this research, GLAD method has been used to fabricate Ag nanostructures with columnar morphology for refractive index sensing applications. The morphology and plasmonic properties of the nanostructures are controlled by changing deposition parameters such as glancing angle, speed of azimuthal rotation of the substrate, and the height of deposited nanostructures. The results show that increasing the deposition thickness from 200 to 500 nm leads to narrowing the plasmonic peak, which mainly relates to increment of the distance between larger nanostructures. By changing the glancing angle between 86° to 80°, the narrowest plasmonic peak corresponding to the greatest sensitivity has been obtained for the film deposited at the angle of 82°. Also, increment of the rotation speed of the samples leads to narrowing of the plasmonic peaks. By measuring the refractive index sensitivity (RIS) of the nanostructures, a best sensitivity of 154 nm/RIU has been obtained. Finally, we investigated the stability of Ag nanostructures in deionized water by introducing a new stabilizing technique in which a thin Au layer is coated on the Ag nanostructures. This technique has the merits of simultaneously protecting the Ag nanostructures against oxidation and keeping their refractive index sensitivity high enough for long time usages.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Tarbiat Modares University, P.O Box 14115-175, Tehran, Iran

    S. Abbasian, A. Moshaii & N. Sobhkhiz Vayghan

  2. Department of Nanobiotechnology, Tarbiat Modares University, P.O. Box 14115-175, Tehran, Iran

    M. Nikkhah

Authors
  1. S. Abbasian
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  2. A. Moshaii
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  3. N. Sobhkhiz Vayghan
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  4. M. Nikkhah
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to A. Moshaii.

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Abbasian, S., Moshaii, A., Vayghan, N.S. et al. Ag Nanostructures Produced by Glancing Angle Deposition with Remarkable Refractive Index Sensitivity. Plasmonics 12, 631–640 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11468-016-0308-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11468-016-0308-0

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