Micro-nanostructure of titanium oxide and titanium nitride thin films for optical applications.

Titanium nitride (TiN) is a very promising new plasmonic material to replace traditional plasmonic materials (gold and silver), especially thanks to its thermal and chemical stability. However, its chemical resistance and its hardness make TiN difficult to microstructure and most technologies describing the way to achieve micro and nanopatterning TiN films, as commonly found in the literature, are not suitable for the production of complexpatterns. The authors present a versatile technology for the elaboration of micro-nanopatterned TiO2/TiN layers, by combining different patterning techniques (mask lithography, colloidal lithography, and nanoimprint) on a photo patternable sol–gel with rapid thermal nitridation process