Investigation of Dual-Ion Beam Sputter-Instigated Plasmon Generation in TCOs: A Case Study of GZO

The use of the high free-electron concentration in heavily doped semiconductor enables the realization of plasmons. We report a novel approach to generate plasmons in Ga:ZnO (GZO) thin films in the wide spectral range of ∼1.87-10.04 eV. In the grown GZO thin films, dual-ion beam sputtering (DIBS) instigated plasmon is observed because of the formation of different metallic nanoclusters are reported. Moreover, formation of the nanoclusters and generation of plasmons are verified by field emission scanning electron microscope, electron energy loss spectra obtained by ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy, and spectroscopic ellipsometry analysis. Moreover, the calculation of valence bulk, valence surface, and particle plasmon resonance energies are performed, and indexing of each plasmon peaks with corresponding plasmon energy peak of the different nanoclusters is carried out. Further, the use of DIBS-instigated plasmon-enhanced GZO can be a novel mean to improve the performance of photovoltaic, photodetector, and sensing devices.