Abstract
This paper presents a direct contact printing method to obtain arrayed metallic nanostructures on a soft polymer substrate. It utilizes a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) mold replicated from silicon molds to transfer metallic nanopatterns onto a polymer substrate based on differences in interfacial bonding energy. Arrayed metallic nanodisks with a disk diameter down to 180 nm and a center-to-center pitch around 400 nm are experimentally patterned on a PET substrate. The patterned metallic nanostructures are then spin-coated with a polymer layer; which mechanically secures the patterned nanostructures and optically allows waveguide plasmon resonance being excited by incident EM waves. Both experimental works and theoretical modeling are given to illustrate the behaviors of different types of plasmon resonance. These arrayed metallic nanostructures patterned on a soft polymer substrate and their tunable optical characteristics open up many possibilities in future engineering applications.
Highlights
Arrayed metallic nanostructures can interact with incident electromagnetic (EM) waves in several ways and result in intriguing and useful optical spectral transmission, reflection, and absorption characteristics
This phenomenon is known as localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) and is strongly related to material properties, sizes, shapes, and arrangements of the arrayed metallic nanostructures as well as the material properties of surrounding dielectrics
The scanning electron microscope (SEM) image in Figure 2a shows one of the hole-arrays on a silicon mold which has a center-to-center pitch of 400 nm and a hole-diameter of 180 nm, and Figure 2b shows the SEM image of the PDMS mold replicated from this silicon mold
Summary
Arrayed metallic nanostructures can interact with incident electromagnetic (EM) waves in several ways and result in intriguing and useful optical spectral transmission, reflection, and absorption characteristics. When regularly arrayed metallic nanostructures are deployed next to a dielectric layer or slab, plasmon resonance induced within arrayed nanoparticles can couple to certain eigenmodes of the EM waves travelling inside the dielectric layer/slab waveguide [8] This new type of waveguide plasmon resonance can further enhance and/or modify the optical spectral characteristics and has gained a lot of attention recently [9,10]. This method is based on our earlier works [16] on contact-transfer patterning with certain modifications aiming at soft polymer substrates It provides a direct, rapid, implemented, and cost-effective method for patterning large-area metallic nanostructures.
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