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Nano-viewpoint in Modeling and Investigation of the D/M/D Transparent-Conductive Layer

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Abstract

A transparent-conductive film (TCF) is widely used in various electro-optical devices. The dielectric/metal/dielectric (D/M/D) as one type of TCF has been highly considered due to more advantages, such as the possibility of selecting different materials and engineering other properties. For pre-fabrication design, it is often modeled with a 1D photonic crystal. This model needs to be improved due to the low thickness of the metal layer since a very thin metallic layer leads to a nanostructure instead of a uniform layer. In this study, after proper nanostructure modeling, the 3D-FDTD method was used to simulate different optical properties of the structure. The first aspect of the importance of the nanostructured model is to address the serious plasmonic losses. They are associated with the complicated metallic form in D/M/D that is not considered in conventional modeling. The simulation results showed that for Ag, plasmonic loss peaks demonstrate a wide distribution over the visible spectrum. These peaks show a more significant distribution near the UV–visible border for Al nanostructure. In both, the behavior of optical plasmonic loss tends to redshift compared to their bulk plasmonic peaks. Concerning optical transmission, Al does not offer a notable advantage over Ag. Due to the intense excitation of plasmonic modes when the metal layer has pores, a layer of entirely connected nanoparticles with the least possible thickness can have the desired optical properties. The increased rough surface of the dielectric layer due to the nanostructured metallic layer was also modeled.

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Data Availability

Due to the increased size of the file after each simulation (usually around 50 GB or more), their storage is faced with hardware limitations.

Code Availability

The Lumerical simulator is used for FDTD simulation.

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Acknowledgements

Thanks to Shahrekord University’s rapid computing center for providing the simulations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Faculty of Sciences, Shahrekord University, Shahrekord, Iran

    Gholamhosain Haidari

  2. Nanotechnology Research Institute, Shahrekord University, Shahrekord, Iran

    Gholamhosain Haidari

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  1. Gholamhosain Haidari
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Correspondence to Gholamhosain Haidari.

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Haidari, G. Nano-viewpoint in Modeling and Investigation of the D/M/D Transparent-Conductive Layer. Plasmonics 17, 249–255 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11468-021-01523-5

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