Accurate determination of optical and electronic properties of ultra-thin silver films for biosensor applications

Ultra-thin metal films are widely utilised for surface-enhanced Raman scattering and surface adsorption spectroscopy. We present in situ spectroscopic ellipsometry investigations of the growth of ultra-thin silver films, from island growth through percolation and continuous film growth. Silver films are deposited using a pulsed filtered cathodic vacuum arc, which provides precise control and reproducibility of the film growth conditions. Plasmon polariton resonances are determined for the growing islands below the percolation threshold. As the surface coverage increases a second oscillator, attributed to bulk plasma resonances, is required to accurately model the ellipsometric data. Post-deposition optical and electronic changes are observed for island films and the origins of these changes are investigated using the ellipsometric data.