Substrate Mediated Synthesis of Ti–Si–N Nano-and-Micro Structures for Optoelectronic Applications

Being one of the strongest materials, ternary TiSiN exhibits a very interesting family of binary transition metal nitride and silicide systems. A novel technique to fabricate morphologically fascinating nano and micro structures of TiSiN is reported here. The referred TiSiN films, majorly constituted with cubic TiN phase, are enriched with crystalline nanoparticles, micro-flowers, and faceted micro-crystals which possess attractive functionalities toward plasmon mediated optoelectronic applications. Reactivity of titanium to silicon nitride-based dielectric topping on the substrate at high temperature plays the key role in nitride formation for the demonstrated protocol. The optoelectronic response for these morphologically enriched composite films indicates an influential role of photo-induced surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) on their dc transport properties. A plasmonically tuned resistive switching, controlled by the surface morphology in association with the film thickness, is observed under light illumination. Using Drude's modified frequency dependent bulk electron scattering rates and surface mediated SPPs-electron scattering rates, a generic model is proposed for addressing unambiguously the increased device resistance in response to light. The featured synthesis process opens a new direction toward the growth of transition metal nitrides while the proposed model serves as a basic platform to understand photo-induced electron scattering mechanisms in metal.