Green fluorescence of Mn-doped Zn₂SiO₄ thin film enhanced by surface plasmon of nano-silver coating

One thin film of Mn-doped ZnO was deposited on a quartz glass in a sputtering system where RF magnetron and DC were employed as power sources. The specimen was removed and annealed in an atmospheric furnace at 1200 °C for 2 h. This annealed specimen was identified as Mndoped Zn₂SiO ₄ (MZS) crystal. The sample was sputtered to coat it with one Ag film varying in thickness (i.e., 3, 5, and 10 nm), and subjected to rapid thermal annealing (RTA) at 500 °C for 15 min. The post-RTA-treated specimens were denoted as 3 Ag(MZS)R, 5 Ag(MZS)R, and 10 Ag(MZS)R, and their surfaces revealed a homogenous distribution of silver nanoparticles. Photoluminescence (PL) measurement showed a fluorescence of 530nm (green light) emitted from MZS. A coating of Ag particles on MZS tended to increase the PL intensity in the following order: 10 Ag(MZS)R (29%) < 5 Ag(MZS)R (72%) < 3 Ag(MZS)R (100%).