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The continuously growing demand for functional plasmonic devices or systems urges the implementation of economical and accelerated nanostructuring techniques. Laser annealing represents a promising approach to address this challenge, given its widespread usage in industry and research, as well as its unique advantages. This study proposes a scalable, rapid, versatile, and cost-efficient method to grow self-assembled nanostructures on metallic ultrathin films and multilayers, with high precision and patterning freedom. By employing industrial-grade equipment, specifically a 1070 nm nanosecond fiber laser and magnetron sputtering system, we directly grew self-assembled nanoparticles on Ag ultrathin films and AgPd multilayers deposited on Corning glass, via laser annealing at ambient conditions. The self-assembled nanoparticles were formed in designated areas by varying several laser parameters and exhibited intense localized surface plasmon resonances. Optical and structural characterization were realized via UV–Vis spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy, respectively. The plasmonic characteristics were found to depend on the initial film thickness and laser annealing parameters. Laser-treated films exhibited remarkable plasmonic behavior, demonstrating that this method does not lack nanostructuring quality while offering scalability and practicality. Further optimization of the laser settings can refine the process and result in an even faster, cheaper, and more qualitative nanostructuring method.

Self-assembled nanoparticles were formed after annealing ultrathin Ag films, which were grown on glass and quartz by direct current magnetron sputtering, in a furnace in air at 420 °C, 500 °C, or 600 °C. Intense localized surface plasmon resonances were observed for these samples in the entire range of visible light spectrum depending on the annealing time and nanoparticle size. Prolonged annealing resulted in the formation of nanorings and the change of the position and shape of resonances. The nanoring formation is attributed to partial evaporation of silver due to trapping of electromagnetic field by the larger nanoparticles despite the relatively low annealing temperature. Finally, in order to gain a further physical insight, the experimental results are compared with respect to rigorous theoretical calculations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence of mild thermal annealing and nickel addition on the magnetic properties of Co–CoO multilayers is investigated. Co–CoO and CoNi–CoNiO multilayers were fabricated by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering and natural oxidation. Their magnetic properties have been studied via the magneto-optical Kerr effect and a vector network analyzer ferromagnetic resonance setup. The Co–CoO multilayers were annealed up to 90 min at 2 5 0 ° C and they were found to be always in-plane magnetized. The value of Gilbert damping was evaluated. The multilayers after annealing or Ni addition show a small increase in coercivity without considerable changes in their anisotropy. The phenomenon of inverted hysteresis with negative remanence, with the field being applied perpendicular to the film plane, has been recorded. It was modeled with two coexisting magnetic moments with in-plane and perpendicular anisotropies, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ni/NiO multilayers were grown by magnetron sputtering at room temperature, with the aid of the natural oxidation procedure. That is, at the end of the deposition of each single Ni layer, air is let to flow into the vacuum chamber through a leak valve. Then, a very thin NiO layer (∼1.2 nm) is formed. Simulated x-ray reflectivity patterns reveal that layering is excellent for individual Ni-layer thickness larger than 2.5 nm, which is attributed to the intercalation of amorphous NiO between the polycrystalline Ni layers. The magnetization of the films, measured at temperatures 5-300 K, has almost bulk-like value, whereas the films exhibit a trend to perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) with an unusual significant positive interface anisotropy contribution, which presents a weak temperature dependence. The power-law behavior of the multilayers indicates a non-negligible contribution of higher order anisotropies in the uniaxial anisotropy. Bloch-law fittings for the temperature dependence of the magnetization in the spin-wave regime show that the magnetization in the multilayers decreases faster as a function of temperature than the one of bulk Ni. Finally, when the individual Ni-layer thickness decreases below 2 nm, the multilayer stacking vanishes, resulting in a dramatic decrease of the interface magnetic anisotropy and consequently in a decrease of the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thin iron films in the thickness range 0.7–48 nm have been deposited on high quality Corning glass and Si(100) substrates by radio frequency magnetron sputtering. The films were then oxidized by annealing at temperatures of 400−450 °C in a furnace in air. X-ray diffraction experiments revealed the formation of single-phase α-Fe 2 O 3 . The films were continuous and present negligible surface roughness. Ultraviolet-visible light absorption spectroscopy has shown a blue shift of both, the indirect and direct band gaps of hematite. The experimental results are interpreted as evidences of quantum confinement effects. This is facilitated by theoretical calculations based on Hartree Fock approximation as applied for an electron-hole system, in the framework of effective mass approximation. The agreement between theory and experiment supports the quantum confinement interpretation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ni/NiO multilayers with excellent sequencing are grown via radiofrequency magnetron sputtering with the use of one Ni target and natural oxidation. Ni layers consist of very small Ni nanocrystals interrupted by amorphous NiO layers. When Ni is deposited at 0.3 Pa Ar-pressure, the hard-magnetization axis is the film normal and saturation field decreases by decreasing Ni layer thickness. Considerable positive surface anisotropy is found, which is remarkable for Ni-based multilayers. If Ni is deposited at 3 Pa Ar-pressure, perpendicular magnetic anisotropy is observed at low temperatures even for 5.4 nm thick Ni layers. This anisotropy results in the formation of stripe magnetic domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Ag/Ni multilayers have been grown on oxidized Si(100) substrates by dc magnetron sputtering at room temperature. The Ag thickness is varied in the range 2.5–20Å. A combination of X-ray reflectivity, diffraction and transmission electron microscopy shows that the films have excellent layering for all Ag thicknesses. This is due to the use of an amorphous AlZr wetting layer which promotes smooth, layered growth of the Ag and Ni. The results demonstrate the feasibility of growing good quality multilayers of high mobility metals on oxide substrates without substrate cooling. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Thin ZnO films with thickness ranging between 2 and 300 nm have been grown on quartz, Corning glass and Si(100) substrates by radio frequency magnetron sputtering. The film thickness was determined by pre-calibrated quartz balance with the help of x-ray reflectivity measurements. X-ray diffraction experiments revealed the formation of highly-textured hexagonal ZnO. Ultraviolet–visible light absorption spectroscopy has shown a "blue shift" of the direct band gap of ZnO. The experimental results are interpreted as evidences of quantum confinement effects. This is supported by theoretical predictions of the optical gap, which was calculated in the framework of effective mass approximation by solving the two particle (electron and hole) Hartree-Fock equations. The observed fair agreement between theoretical and experimental results corroborates the quantum confinement interpretation. • Thin ZnO films with thickness ranging between 2 and 300 nm have been grown by radio frequency magnetron sputtering. • The film thickness was determined by pre-calibrated quartz balance with the help of x-ray reflectivity measurements. • Ultraviolet–visible light absorption spectroscopy has shown a "blue shift" of the direct band gap of ZnO. • The experimental results are supplemented by theoretical calculations. • The agreement between theoretical and experimental results corroborates the quantum confinement interpretation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]