Surface plasmon enhanced ultraviolet emission from ZnO films deposited on Ag∕Si(001) by magnetron sputtering

Abstract
The ZnO films were grown on AgSi(001) substrates by sputtering Ag and ZnO targets successively in a pure Ar ambient. A significant enhancement of ZnO ultraviolet emission and a reduction of its full width of half maximum have been observed while introducing a 100nm Ag interlayer between ZnO film and Si substrate. Furthermore, a complete suppression of the defect related visible emission was also found for the ZnOAgSi sample. This improved optical performance of ZnO is attributed to the resonant coupling between Ag surface plasmon and ultraviolet emission of ZnO.