Comparative study of plasmonic resonance in transparent conducting oxides: ITO and AZO

This work aims to report a comparative study of two transparent conducting oxides, namely indium tin oxide (ITO) and aluminium-doped zinc oxide (AZO or ZnO:Al) for the excitation and propagation of surface plasmon polariton wave. Resonance curves for several thicknesses and angle of incidence have been simulated in order to study the resonant behaviour of these materials, using MATLAB. It can be shown that ZnO: Al can support plasmonic excitation by an incident electromagnetic wave of 2.5 micrometer wavelength in MID IR wavelength window. In the frequency range of interest, 200 nm or thicker AZO film gives lower value of minimum reflectivity compared to ITO film for the angle of incidence varying from 42 to 51 degrees, other structural parameters remaining unaltered.