Influence of low-energy plasma annealing on structural and optical properties of silver nanoclusters grown by magnetron sputtering deposition

Structural and optical modifications induced by low-energy (≤80 eV) bias-plasma annealing of silver nanoclusters (2–25 nm) grown by magnetron sputtering deposition are reported. By combining postmortem structural characterizations and real-time optical measurements, we show that etching effects associated with enhanced Ag mobility result in progressive and irreversible changes of both the morphology and organization of the nanoclusters (i.e., decrease of the cluster size and intercluster distance as well as increase of their out-of-plane aspect ratio). Surface plasmon resonance bands of the nanoclusters are also modified by plasma treatment, which causes a blue-shift together with an amplitude decrease and a narrowing of the band. In addition, the kinetics of plasma-induced modifications can be easily controlled by varying the applied bias voltage. Therefore, plasma annealing could emerge as an efficient alternative to more traditional thermal annealing treatments for tuning the plasmonic properties of noble metal nanoclusters with great flexibility.