Fabrication and Characterization of Plasmonic Au Nanoparticles on ITO-Coated Glass Sheets

We report here the fabrication of sputter-deposited Au nanoparticles on ITO (Sn-doped indium oxide)-coated glass substrate. The effect of varying annealing parameters, viz., time and temperature in conjunction with varying thickness parameters has been thoroughly investigated. Synthesized Au nanoparticles were characterized using a field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), Rutherford backscattering (RBS) measurement, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and optical absorbance spectroscopy. The role of annealing temperature and time duration on the evolution of Au nanoparticles has been discussed in detail based on optical absorbance spectroscopy. The present study shows that 5 nm thickness Au thin film which was annealed at 500 °C for 90 min exhibited the strongest surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect.