PNNL

Abstract

Infrared absorbance and visible/near-IR excited plasmon resonances are investigated in gold-black, a porous nano-structured conducting film. A two level full factorial optimization study with evaporation-chamber pressure, boat current, substrate temperature, and degree of polymer infusion (for hardening) was performed. Polymer infusion was found generally to reduce absorbance in the long wave IR but has little effect at THz wavelengths, although for samples with the highest absorbance there is a slight improvement in the absorbance figure of merit (FOM) in both wavelength regimes. The characteristic length scales of the structured films vary considerably as a function of deposition parameters, but the IR FOM is found to be only weakly correlated with these distributions, which are determined by wavelet analysis of scanning electron micrographs images. Initial investigations of gold-black by photoelectron emission microscopy (PEEM) reveal plasmon resonances, which have potential to enhance the efficiency of thin film solar cells. For films with different characteristic length scales, the plasmon resonances appear in portions of the film with similar length scales.