| Summary: | In this work, TiO2/TiN/TiO2 multilayer nanostructured films are prepared for coupling the plasmonic characteristics of TiN with the semiconducting characteristics of TiO2. X-ray examinations revealed the existence of mixed tetragonal crystalline phases of anatase and rutile TiO2. Small and uniformly distributed grains with grain sizes ranged from 5 to 9 nm were observed from scanning electron microscopy investigations. The electrical conductivity of the nanostructured multilayer films increased monotonically with increasing TiN layer thickness. Five-phase Si(substrate)/TiO2/TiN/TiO2/air model was employed to fit the simulated data to the experimental spectroscopic ellipsometer spectra. The refractive index and the real part of the dielectric constant were generally decreased with increasing TiN thickness. The absorption was enhanced over the wavelengths from 650 to 1350 nm, in which traditional silicon solar cells display a weak achievement, with increasing TiN layer thickness. The optical band gap values were decreased from 3.32 eV to 3.01 eV with increasing TiN layer thickness from 2.9 nm to 32.1 nm. Severe quenching in the photoluminescence intensity was observed with increasing TiN layer thickness. This study showed TiO2/TiN/TiO2 multilayer films with enhanced plasmonic characteristics, enhanced absorbance and quenched photoluminescence which can be used to enhance their potential applications in solar energy harvesting.
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