Structural and plasmonic properties of TixZr1-xNy ternary nitride thin films

Nitride is a kind of alternative promising plasmonic material, and ternary nitride can provide the high diversity and tunability of the plasmonic performance. In this work, TixZr1-xNy ternary nitride films were prepared by magnetron co-sputtering method, and the effects of metal content and nitrogen content on the structural and plasmonic properties of the films were investigated. The results show that the films are fcc-structured and (1 1 1)-orientated. The alloying of the ZrN and TiN can enlarger the grain size of the films, while the over-stoichiometric nitrogen atoms can depress the crystallinity. The crossover frequency omega(c), and energy loss of the TixZr1-xNy ternary nitride films are lower than those of the binary TiNy and ZrNy. Increasing N-content can also reduce the energy loss of films. For the films with moderate N-content, the plasma factors Q(SPP), and the Q(LSPR) of ternary nitride films is comparable to that of TiN films. An increase in nitrogen content reduces the Q(LSPR) and Q(SPP), factors. The absorption edge and optical band-gap can be narrowed by the increasing of Ti or N-content. These results demonstrate that TixZr1-xNy ternary nitride film can be used as an alternative plasma material and their plasmonic properties can be modulated over a wide range by composition.