ITO induced tunability of surface plasmon resonance of silver thin film

A series of silver films with various thicknesses were deposited on ITO covered silica substrates by magnetron sputtering at room temperature. The tunability of the surface plasmon resonance wavelength was realized by varying the thickness of silver thin film. By adjusting the silver layer thickness from 5 to 40 nm, the resonance wavelength shows a blueshift, which is due to a change in the electromagnetic field coupling strength from the localized surface plasmons excited between the silver thin film and ITO layer. In contrast, when the ITO layer is absent from the system, no noticeable shift in the resonance wavelength is observed upon varying the silver thin film thickness.