Enhancing the photoluminescence intensity of silicon-rich nitride film by localized surface plasmon enhanced photo-excitation

The photoluminescence of silicon-rich nitride (SRN) film was coupled with the surface plasmon (SP) of Ag island film. It shows that the photoluminescence (PL) enhancement or quenching is strongly dependent on the excitation wavelength. When the excitation wavelength is near the SP resonance spectral region, the Ag islands act as a photo antenna, leading to the enhancement of the excitation cross-sections and therefore the photoemission enhancement. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the metal island size also has an influence on the emission enhancement, but the enhancement is much more decided by the excitation wavelength than by the Ag island radiative scattering.