INVESTIGATION OF THE PROPERTIES OF SILVER THIN FILMS DEPOSITED BY DC MAGNETRON SPUTTERING

Abstract

In this paper, we studied the surface morphology of silver (Ag) thin films deposited on glass substrate by using the DC magnetron sputtering with various power conditions at room temperature. The surface morphology, the optical and electrical properties were measured by AFM (Atomic Force Microscopy), UV–Vis Spectrophotometer (Lambda 950), and the four-probe method (RTS-9, Four Probes Technology). The effect of the sputtering power on the root-mean-square (RMS) surface roughness of Ag thin films was analyzed. The experiment results showed that the RMS value was lowest in the range from 60[Formula: see text]W to 80[Formula: see text]W. At the same time, the effect of the thickness on optical transmittance and sheet resistance was also investigated. We found the rough surface was prejudiced to inducing sheet resistance and enhancing the optical transmittance when the thickness of Ag thin films was thin. In addition, the excitation of the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) was due to Ag nanoparticles (NPs) based on the analysis of the FDTD (finite-difference time-domain) simulation.