LAUSR

Abstract Oxygen pressure mediated interfacial diffusion of silver up to top surface of thick (∼120 nm) TiO2 layer in e-beam evaporated Ag/TiO2 bilayer thin films has been observed. This effect has been investigated in oxygen pressure range of 5.9 × 10−5-5.8 × 10−4 mbar during evaporation. The amount of Ag diffusion (5–24%) has been found to be correlated with the induced porosity of TiO2 layer. Both compositional and structural characterizations confirm Ag0 chemical state of diffused silver. Scanning Electron Microscopy revealed Ag aggregates having an approximate average diameter of ∼4 nm and ∼24 nm on top surface. Spectroscopic ellipsometry analysis demonstrates that plasmonic absorption caused by these Ag nanoparticles manifests significant modulation of effective complex refractive indices (ECRI) of TiO2 layer. Specifically, the imaginary part of ECRI of TiO2 exhibits substantial non-zero value (∼6.5 × 10−2) in the visible wavelength range which is otherwise close to zero (