Wafer-scale high-quality Ag thin film using a ZnO buffer layer for plasmonic applications

[Display omitted] •A ZnO buffer layer for a single-crystalline Ag thin film on a sapphire substrate.•Ag films are single-crystalline due to the small EADM of ~0.08% between Ag and ZnO.•A new method for fabricating Ag films with high adhesion, anti-oxidative stability.•A new method for fabricating Ag films for easy nano-patterning. Realizing laterally continuous, ultraflat silver (Ag) single-crystal films is a significant technological challenge. Ag thin film grown on various hetero-substrates has been used in numerous applications, due to its superior electrical and optical properties. To exploit these properties without degradation and apply these films to high-precision patterning, surface plasmonics, and so on, a high-quality thin film having an ultraflat surface and few grain boundaries is needed. A zinc oxide (ZnO) buffer layer can be used to facilitate the growth of a single-crystalline Ag thin film on a sapphire (Al2O3) substrate. ZnO films deposited on Al2O3 substrates have grain boundaries; however, Ag films grown on ZnO are nearly grain-free and close to single-crystalline quality. This can be explained by the exceptionally small extended atomic distance mismatch, of ~0.08%, between Ag and Al2O3, in which the ninth Ag atom and the eighth Al atom are matched in terms of coherence and periodicity. A modified radio frequency sputtering system with a single-crystal Ag target enabled wafer-scale growth of ultraflat, grain-free Ag films. The proposed approach using a ZnO buffer provides a new method for fabricating Ag films with high adhesion, anti-oxidative stability, and superior optical properties, and allows for easy nano-patterning.