Titanium Nitride Plasmonic Nanohole Arrays for CMOS-Compatible Integrated Refractive Index Sensing: Influence of Layer Thickness on Optical Properties

Abstract The combination of nanohole arrays with photodetectors can be a strategy for the large-scale fabrication of miniaturized and cost-effective refractive index sensors on the Si platform. However, complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) fabrication processes place restrictions in particular on the material that can be used for the fabrication of the structures. Here, we focus on using the CMOS compatible transition metal nitride Titanium Nitride (TiN) for the fabrication of nanohole arrays (NHAs). We investigate the optical properties of TiN NHAs with different TiN thicknesses (50 nm, 100 nm, and 150 nm) fabricated using high-precision industrial processes for possible applications in integrated, plasmonic refractive index sensors. Reflectance measurements show pronounced Fano-shaped resonances, with resonance wavelengths between 950 and 1200 nm, that can be attributed to extraordinary optical transmission (EOT) through the NHAs. Using the measured material permittivity as an input, the measured spectra are reproduced by simulations with a large degree of accuracy: Simulated and measured resonance wavelengths deviate by less than 10 nm, with an average deviation of 4 nm observed at incidence angles of 30° and 40°. Our experimental results demonstrate that an increase in the thickness of the TiN layer from 50 to 150 nm leads to a sensitivity increase from 614.5 nm/RIU to 765.4 nm/RIU, which we attribute to a stronger coupling between individual LSPRs at the hole edges with spatially extended SPPs. Our results can be used to increase the performance of TiN NHAs for applications in on-chip plasmonic refractive index sensors.