Transparent conductors as solar energy materials: A panoramic review

Recent advancements in metamaterials and plasmonics have promised a number of exciting applications, in particular at terahertz and optical frequencies. Unfortunately, the noble metals used in these photonic structures are not particularly good conductors at high frequencies, resulting in significant dissipative loss. Here, we address the question of what is a good conductor for metamaterials and plasmonics. For resonant metamaterials, we develop a figure-of-merit for conductors that allows for a straightforward classification of conducting materials according to the resulting dissipative loss in the metamaterial. Application of our method predicts that graphene and high-Tc superconductors are not viable alternatives for metals in metamaterials. We also provide an overview of a number of transition metals, alkali metals and transparent conducting oxides. For plasmonic systems, we predict that graphene and high-Tc superconductors cannot outperform gold as a platform for surface plasmon polaritons, because graphene has a smaller propagation length-towavelength ratio.

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A comparison of graphene, superconductors and metals as conductors for metamaterials and plasmonics

(Oxy)nitride materials, consisting mainly of transition metal and ionic-covalent (oxy)nitrides, show a vast number of interesting physical and chemical properties due to their substantial structural diversity. The optical properties of these (oxy)nitrides, in combination with their excellent mechanical strength, thermal properties, and chemical stability, enable (oxy)nitrides to be used in a variety of industrial fields, such as photovoltaic, photothermal, photocatalytic, pigment, lighting and display, optoelectronic, and defense industries. The optical properties are extremely related to the electronic band structure of (oxy)nitrides, and can be varied significantly by changing the chemical composition (e.g., the oxygen to nitrogen ratio) and preparation/processing conditions. This article overviews the optical properties (including refractive index, reflectance, absorbance, band gap, photoluminescence, and transmittance) of (oxy)nitride materials that are in the form of thin films, powders, or bulk ceramics, and highlights their applications as antireflection coatings, solar spectral selectivity coatings, visible-light-driven photocatalysts, ecological pigments, phosphors for light-emitting diodes, and transparent window materials.

Optical Properties of (Oxy)Nitride Materials: A Review

Multi-element nitride films of AlCrTaTiZr high-entropy alloy have been prepared in this study by reactive radio-frequency magnetron sputtering The influences of nitrogen flow ratio on the chemical composition, microstructure and mechanical properties of the deposited nitride films have been investigated The AlCrTaTiZr alloy film exhibited an amorphous structure, while a simple face-center-cubic solid-solution structure was observed in the nitride films prepared under different nitrogen flow ratios The multi-element AlCrTaTiZr nitride films exhibited much improved mechanical properties as compared with conventional nitride hard coatings of transition metals

Preparation and characterization of AlCrTaTiZr multi-element nitride coatings

The nitrides of most of the group IVb-Vb-VIb transition metals (TiN, ZrN, HfN, VN, NbN, TaN, MoN, WN) constitute the unique category of conductive ceramics. Having substantial electronic conductivity, exceptionally high melting points and covering a wide range of work function values, they were considered for a variety of electronic applications, which include diffusion barriers in metallizations of integrated circuits, Ohmic contacts on compound semiconductors, and thin film resistors, since early eighties. Among them, TiN and ZrN are recently emerging as significant candidates for plasmonic applications. So the possible plasmonic activity of the rest of transition metal nitrides (TMN) emerges as an important open question. In this work, we exhaustively review the experimental and computational (mostly ab initio) works in the literature dealing with the optical properties and electronic structure of TMN spanning over three decades of time and employing all the available growth techniques. We critically evaluate the optical properties of all TMN and we model their predicted plasmonic response. Hence, we provide a solid understanding of the intrinsic (e.g. the valence electron configuration of the constituent metal) and extrinsic (e.g. point defects and microstructure) factors that dictate the plasmonic performance. Based on the reported optical spectra, we evaluate the quality factors for surface plasmon polariton and localized surface plasmon for various TMN and critically compare them to each other. We demonstrate that, indeed TiN and ZrN along with HfN are the most well-performing plasmonic materials in the visible range, while VN and NbN may be viable alternatives for plasmonic devices in the blue, violet and near UV ranges, albeit in expense of increased electronic loss. Furthermore, we consider the alloyed ternary TMN and by critical evaluation and comparison of the reported experimental and computational works, we identify the emerging optimal tunable plasmonic conductors among the immense number of alloying combinations.

Conductive nitrides: Growth principles, optical and electronic properties, and their perspectives in photonics and plasmonics

High stability titanium nitride based solar control films

Optical characterization of sputtered semitransparent zirconium nitride films

Opaque and semi-transmitting film of ZrN have been reactively magnetron sputtered and their optical performance for solar control coating applications evaluated. The optical constants of the opaque films were determined from near normal reflectance measurements and Kramers- Kronig calculations over the interval 0.23 - 3.0 micrometers . The thin film optical constants were determined with combined R- and T-measurements. Systematic variations with growth conditions were observed. Thin films were observed to have higher n-values in the visible, a change that could be partly compensated by substrate heating. For the triple layers: glass / ZrO2 / ZrN / Zro2 it was noted that the crystallinity of the first oxide did not influence the refractive index of this oxide, but improved significantly the selectivity of the nitride growing upon it. Triple layers for solar control applications with 57% luminous transmittance and close to 1/3 each of solar transmittance, reflectance and absorption have been realized.© (1993) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Optical constants of sputtered ZrN films for heat mirror applications

Triple layer structures of TiO2/TiN/TiO2 and quadruple layer structures of TiO2/Al/TiN/TiO2 have been sputtered on glass substrates at temperatures ranging from room temperature to 300 degree(s)C. The reflectance and transmittance were measured in the visible and the near infrared wavelength regions. Accelerated degradation tests with respect to high temperature and acid exposure have been performed with these laboratory samples of low-e coatings and the degradation has been compared with that of commercial silver based window coatings. As expected the durability of the nitride based coatings is far superior to the stability of those based on noble metals. Furthermore, the nitride coatings with an aluminum sacrificial layer have been found to resist aging at elevated temperatures (as high as 350 - 400 degree(s)C) far better than similar coatings without the aluminum. It has also been shown that the aluminum layer protects the nitride film during deposition of the top oxide layer. The effects of high temperature annealing have been modeled with optical multilayer calculations. Comparison of two degradation mechanisms demonstrates that the silver layers fail by agglomeration while the nitride suffers successive oxidation. This explains the effectiveness of the aluminum layer which forms a dense oxide during the initial stages of TiO2- deposition.© (1992) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Degradation studies of nitride-based low-e films

Opaque and semitransparent dc magnetron-sputtered ZrN films on glass and silicon have been optically characterized with spectral reflectance measurements and ellipsometry. High rate sputtered ZrN has good optical selectivity, i.e., higher than 90% infrared reflectance and a pronounced reflectance step in the visible to a reflectance minimum of less than 10% at 350 nm. The results are comparable with those obtained for single crystalline samples and those prepared by chemical vapor deposition. The complex optical constant (N = n v ik) for opaque films has been determined in the 0.23-25-µm wavelength range with Kramers-Kronig integration of bulk reflectance combined with oblique incidence reflectance for p-polarized light. A variable angle of incidence spectroscopic ellipsometer has been used for determination of the optical constants in the 0.28-1.0-µm wavelength region. The results of the two methods show excellent agreement. The results indicate that ZrN is free electronlike and the Drude model can be applied. The best opaque films had Drude plasma energies (ħω(p) between 6.6 and 7.5 eV and relaxation energies (ħ/τ) between 0.29 and 0.36 eV. Ellipsometer data for the semitransparent films show that the refractive index (n) in the visible increases with decreasing film thickness whereas the extinction coefficient (k) is essentially unchanged. The optical properties are improved by deposition upon a heated substrate.

Optical constants and Drude analysis of sputtered zirconium nitride films

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