Localized Surface Plasmon on 6H SiC with Ag Nanoparticles

Silver (Ag) nanoparticles (NPs) were deposited on the surface of bulk Nitrogen-Boron co-doped 6H silicon carbide (SiC), and the Ag NPs were observed to induce localized surface plasmons (LSP) resonances on the SiC substrate, which was expected to improve the internal quantum efficiency (IQE) of the emissions of the donor-acceptor pairs of the SiC substrate. Roomtemperature measurements of photoluminescence (PL), transmittance and time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) were applied to characterize the LSP resonances. Through the finitedifference time-domain (FDTD) simulation of the LSP resonance of an Ag nanoparticle on the SiC substrate, it is predicted that when the diameter of the cross section on the xy plane of the Ag nanoparticle is greater than 225 nm, the LSP starts to enhance the PL intensity. With implementation of a 3rd order exponential decay fitting model to the TRPL results, it is found that the average minority carrier lifetime of the SiC substrate decreased.