Ultra-thin ultra-smooth and low-loss silver films on a germanium wetting layer

Abstract

We demonstrate a method to fabricate ultra-thin, ultra-smooth and low-loss silver (Ag) films using a very thin germanium (Ge) layer as a wetting material and a rapid post-annealing treatment. The addition of a Ge wetting layer greatly reduces the surface roughness of Ag films deposited on a glass substrate by electron-beam evaporation. The percolation threshold of Ag films and the minimal thickness of a uniformly continuous Ag film were significantly reduced using a Ge wetting layer in the fabrication. A rapid post-annealing treatment is demonstrated to reduce the loss of the ultra-thin Ag film to the ideal values allowed by the quantum size effect in smaller grains. Using the same wetting method, we have also extended our studies to ultra-smooth silver-silica lamellar composite films with ultra-thin Ag sublayers. (C) 2010 Optical Society of America

Comments

Weiqiang Chen, Mark D. Thoreson, Satoshi Ishii, Alexander V. Kildishev, and Vladimir M. Shalaev. Ultra-thin ultra-smooth and low-loss silver films on a germanium wetting layer. Optics Express Vol. 18, Issue 5, pp. 5124-5134 (2010) https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.18.005124

Keywords

DIFFRACTION LIMIT; SURFACE ENERGY; SUPERLENS; FIELD; NANOPARTICLES; HYPERLENS; LIGHT; LENS

DOI

10.1364/OE.18.005124

Citation

Optics Express Vol. 18, Issue 5, pp. 5124-5134 (2010)

Date of this Version

3-2010

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