Plasmonic properties of titanium nitride thin films prepared by ion beam assisted deposition

Abstract Titanium nitride ( TiN x ) is regarded as a kind of promising plasmonic material for its high performances. We studied the influence of nitrogen partial pressure p n and deposition temperature T d on the structural and plasmonic properties of the TiN x thin films prepared by ion beam assisted deposition (IBAD). The results show that IBAD is an effective method to tailor the plasmonic properties of TiN x films in visible and near-IR region. The plasmonic properties of the films have significant T d and p n dependence. Higher p n and lower T d can reduce the plasma frequency and the plasmon resonance. Higher p n and higher T d can reduce the optical loss of the samples. The modification of the plasmonic properties is related to the variation of nitrogen content.