skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Direct observation of localized surface plasmon field enhancement by Kelvin probe force microscopy

Journal Article · · Light, Science & Applications
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/lsa.2017.38· OSTI ID:1468800
ORCiD logo [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [1]
  1. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Changchun (China). State Key Lab. of Luminescence and Applications
  2. Georgia State Univ., Atlanta, GA (United States). Center for Nano-Optics (CeNO) and Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
+ Show Author Affiliations

A surface plasmon (SP) is a fundamental excitation state that exists in metal nanostructures. Over the past several years, the performance of optoelectronic devices has been improved greatly via the SP enhancement effect. In our previous work, the responsivity of GaN ultraviolet detectors was increased by over 30 times when using Ag nanoparticles. However, the physics of the SP enhancement effect has not been established definitely because of the lack of experimental evidence. To reveal the physical origin of this enhancement, Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) was used to observe the SP-induced surface potential reduction in the vicinity of Ag nanoparticles on a GaN epilayer. Under ultraviolet illumination, the localized field enhancement induced by the SP forces the photogenerated electrons to drift close to the Ag nanoparticles, leading to a reduction of the surface potential around the Ag nanoparticles on the GaN epilayer. For an isolated Ag nanoparticle with a diameter of ~200 nm, the distribution of the SP localized field is located within 60 nm of the boundary of the Ag nanoparticle. For a dimer of Ag nanoparticles, the localized field enhancement between the nanoparticles was the strongest. The results presented here provide direct experimental proof of the localized field enhancement. In conclusion, these results not only explain the high performance of GaN detectors observed with the use of Ag nanoparticles but also reveal the physical mechanism of SP enhancement in optoelectronic devices, which will help us further understand and improve the performance of SP-based optoelectronic devices in the future.

Research Organization:
Georgia State Univ., Atlanta, GA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division; National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0007043; 61574142; 61322406; 61274038; 20150519001JH; 2015171
OSTI ID:
1468800
Journal Information:
Light, Science & Applications, Vol. 6, Issue 8; ISSN 2047-7538
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 74 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (40)

Demonstration of a spaser-based nanolaser journal August 2009
Local charge trapping in Ge nanoclustersdetected by Kelvin probe force microscopy journal December 2016
Light scattering and surface plasmons on small spherical particles journal June 2014
Resonant light scattering from metal nanoparticles: Practical analysis beyond Rayleigh approximation journal December 2003
Vertical current-flow enhancement via fabrication of GaN nanorod p–n junction diode on graphene journal August 2015
Modelling the optical response of gold nanoparticles journal January 2008
Plasmonics for improved photovoltaic devices journal February 2010
Realization of a High-Performance GaN UV Detector by Nanoplasmonic Enhancement journal January 2012
Surface Plasmon Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation: Quantum Generation of Coherent Surface Plasmons in Nanosystems journal January 2003
Surface potential of n- and p-type GaN measured by Kelvin force microscopy journal November 2008
Direct Observation of Hole Transfer from Semiconducting Polymer to Carbon Nanotubes journal April 2013
Surface photovoltage phenomena: theory, experiment, and applications journal December 1999
Plasmonic nanoparticle enhanced photocurrent in GaN/InGaN/GaN quantum well solar cells journal April 2010
Diameter-Dependent Surface Photovoltage and Surface State Density in Single Semiconductor Nanowires journal September 2012
Metallic nanostructures for efficient LED lighting journal January 2016
Gold nanoparticle-based novel enhancement method for the development of highly sensitive immunochromatographic test strips journal January 2006
Inherently Stealthy and Highly Tumor-Selective Gold Nanoraspberries for Photothermal Cancer Therapy journal May 2015
Coupling Behaviors of Surface Plasmon Polariton and Localized Surface Plasmon with an InGaN/GaN Quantum Well journal October 2015
Dynamics of Photogenerated Surface Charge on BiFeO 3 Films journal February 2012
Control of Carrier Type and Density in Exfoliated Graphene by Interface Engineering journal December 2010
Toward Ferroelectric Control of Monolayer MoS 2 journal April 2015
Heat-assisted magnetic recording by a near-field transducer with efficient optical energy transfer journal March 2009
Polarity analysis of GaN nanorods by photo-assisted Kelvin probe force microscopy journal May 2011
Proposed graphene nanospaser journal July 2014
Theory of Photoinjection of Hot Plasmonic Carriers from Metal Nanostructures into Semiconductors and Surface Molecules journal July 2013
Momentum matrix element and conduction band nonparabolicity in wurtzite GaN journal April 2005
Kelvin probe force microscopy and its application journal January 2011
Surface plasmon resonance of layer-by-layer gold nanoparticles induced photoelectric current in environmentally-friendly plasmon-sensitized solar cell journal June 2012
Exceeding the limit of plasmonic light trapping in textured screen-printed solar cells using Al nanoparticles and wrinkle-like graphene sheets journal August 2013
Local ultra-violet surface photovoltage spectroscopy of single thread dislocations in gallium nitrides by Kelvin probe force microscopy journal December 2012
Advances in AFM for the electrical characterization of semiconductors journal June 2008
Improved UV photoresponse of ZnO nanorod arrays by resonant coupling with surface plasmons of Al nanoparticles journal January 2015
Kelvin probe force microscopy of semiconductor surface defects journal August 2004
Exploitation of Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance journal October 2004
Biosensing with plasmonic nanosensors journal June 2008
Imaging extended non-homogeneities in HVPE grown GaN with Kelvin Probe Microscopy and photo-etching journal August 2012
Enhanced optical output and reduction of the quantum-confined Stark effect in surface plasmon-enhanced green light-emitting diodes with gold nanoparticles journal January 2016
Three-dimensional topological insulator based nanospaser journal April 2016
Proposed Graphene Nanospaser preprint January 2013
Light scattering and surface plasmons on small spherical particles text January 2014

Cited By (14)

MoS 2 /TiO 2 Hybrid Nanostructure‐Based Field‐Effect Transistor for Highly Sensitive, Selective, and Rapid Detection of Gram‐Positive Bacteria journal October 2019
Synthesis of Plasmonic Group‐4 Nitride Nanocrystals by Solid‐State Metathesis journal January 2019
Synthesis of Plasmonic Group‐4 Nitride Nanocrystals by Solid‐State Metathesis journal March 2019
Modulating the Surface State of SiC to Control Carrier Transport in Graphene/SiC journal May 2018
Plasma Treatment for Nitrogen-Doped 3D Graphene Framework by a Conductive Matrix with Sulfur for High-Performance Li-S Batteries journal January 2019
Optically Governed Dynamic Surface Charge Redistribution of Hybrid Plasmo‐Pyroelectric Nanosystems journal July 2019
Electron‐Beam‐Driven III‐Nitride Plasmonic Nanolasers in the Deep‐UV and Visible Region journal December 2019
Azurin-TiO 2 hybrid nanostructure field effect transistor for efficient ultraviolet detection journal September 2019
Enhanced photoresponse performance in Ga/Ga 2 O 3 nanocomposite solar-blind ultraviolet photodetectors journal June 2018
CVD grown nitrogen doped graphene is an exceptional visible-light driven photocatalyst for surface catalytic reactions journal October 2019
Three-Dimensional Carbon Nitride Nanowire Scaffold for Flexible Supercapacitors journal March 2019
Porous Carbon Networks Derived From Graphitic Carbon Nitride for Efficient Oxygen Reduction Reaction journal July 2019
Influence of Quantum-Well Width on the Electroluminescence Properties of AlGaN Deep Ultraviolet Light-Emitting Diodes at Different Temperatures journal October 2018
A Novel Au@Cu2O-Ag Ternary Nanocomposite with Highly Efficient Catalytic Performance: Towards Rapid Reduction of Methyl Orange Under Dark Condition journal December 2019

Similar Records

Gas source molecular beam epitaxy of scandium nitride on silicon carbide and gallium nitride surfaces
Journal Article · Sat Nov 01 00:00:00 EDT 2014 · Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. A, Vacuum, Surfaces and Films · OSTI ID:1468800
Growth and optical properties of In{sub x}Al{sub y}Ga
Journal Article · Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2001 · Applied Physics Letters · OSTI ID:1468800
+2 more
Chapter 14: Surface plasmon resonance enhanced artificial photosynthesis of chemical fuels for energy storage
Book · Sat Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2023 · OSTI ID:1468800
+2 more

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS