Effect of thermal annealing on the surface plasmon properties of gold and silver nanodisk structures fabricated by electron beam lithography

Abstract

This study investigates the effect of thermal annealing on the surface plasmon resonance properties of gold and silver nanodisk structures fabricated by electron beam lithography. Despite no significant size change due to a nickel adhesion layer, thermal annealing at 500 °C notably altered surface plasmon resonance properties, especially in gold nanodisks, which showed peak blue-shifts and narrowing, indicating improved crystallinity. We fitted the peak shift by using an electromagnetic field analysis and discussed the changes in the dielectric function. The dielectric function of the simple Drude model was adopted, which was fitted to the values of the Lorentz Drude model in a limited wavelength region. While both silver and gold exhibited increased oscillation strength, only gold nanodisk structures showed a decrease in damping frequency. Increased oscillation strength indicated that these structures should be useful for selective enhancement of the light at specific wavelengths by a very simple heat treatment.