Finding the Wedge-Shaped Au Nanoclusters at the Surface of GaAs and Investigating Them with the Polarization Spectroscopy of Plasmons

Abstract

Using high-temperature annealing of thin gold nanofilms deposited onto the (001) surface of doped p-GaAs crystal with an ultrathin oxide layer, the nanoclusters of gold (Au₂Ga alloy) are fabricated. The gold clusters have the wedge shapes with rectangular bases elongated in [110] direction at GaAs(001) surface. This assertion is confirmed by the data of diagnostics of Au/p-GaAs(001) structures. Anisotropic plasmons localized on equally oriented wedge-shaped Au (Au₂Ga) clusters are investigated with the optical reflectance anisotropy spectroscopy and spectroscopy of polarized light reflection. It is shown that the spectral peak at the energy about 0.9 eV in the near infrared range is associated with plasmons polarized along the longest sides of clusters in crystallographic direction [110]. Another peak—at the energy of 1.8 eV—is due to plasmons having polarization in direction \([1\bar {1}0]\).