Semiconductors for plasmonics and metamaterials

Plasmonics has conventionally been in the realm of metal-optics. However, conventional metals as plasmonic elements in the near-infrared (NIR) and visible spectral ranges suffer from problems such as large losses and incompatibility with semiconductor technology. Replacing metals with semiconductors can alleviate these problems if only semiconductors could exhibit negative real permittivity. Aluminum doped zinc oxide (AZO) is a low loss semiconductor that can show negative real permittivity in the NIR. A comparative assessment of AZO-based plasmonic devices such as superlens and hyperlens with their metal-based counterparts shows that AZO-based devices significantly outperform at a wavelength of 1.55 um. This provides a strong stimulus in turning to semiconductor plasmonics at the telecommunication wavelengths.

[1]  E. Ozbay Plasmonics: Merging Photonics and Electronics at Nanoscale Dimensions , 2006, Science.

[2]  Zhaowei Liu,et al.  Far-Field Optical Hyperlens Magnifying Sub-Diffraction-Limited Objects , 2007, Science.

[3]  E. E. Narimanov,et al.  Engineering photonic density of states using metamaterials , 2010, 1005.5172.

[4]  Vladimir M. Shalaev,et al.  Optical Metamaterials: Fundamentals and Applications , 2009 .

[5]  T. Minami New n-Type Transparent Conducting Oxides , 2000 .

[6]  Vladimir M. Shalaev,et al.  Searching for better plasmonic materials , 2009, 0911.2737.

[7]  James D. Plummer,et al.  Silicon VLSI Technology , 2008 .

[8]  E. F. Schubert,et al.  Doping in III-V Semiconductors , 1993 .

[9]  N. Fang,et al.  Sub–Diffraction-Limited Optical Imaging with a Silver Superlens , 2005, Science.

[10]  Hyung Kook Kim,et al.  Solid solubility limits of Ga and Al in ZnO , 2002 .

[11]  Stergios Logothetidis,et al.  Optical, electronic, and transport properties of nanocrystalline titanium nitride thin films , 2001 .

[12]  Peter B Catrysse,et al.  Geometries and materials for subwavelength surface plasmon modes. , 2004, Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics, image science, and vision.

[13]  J. Pendry,et al.  Imaging the near field , 2002, cond-mat/0207026.

[14]  Leonid Alekseyev,et al.  Supplementary Information for “ Negative refraction in semiconductor metamaterials ” , 2007 .

[15]  S. Maier Plasmonics: Fundamentals and Applications , 2007 .

[16]  Mark L. Brongersma,et al.  Plasmonics – the missing link between nanoelectronics and microphotonics , 2007 .

[17]  S. Franzen,et al.  Surface Plasmon Polaritons and Screened Plasma Absorption in Indium Tin Oxide Compared to Silver and Gold , 2008 .