Morphological and Structural Properties of Metamaterial Based on ITO/Sapphire/ZnS/Al Superlattice

In this study, an application-oriented approach was made by utilizing the absorptive properties of thin, periodic metal-dielectric multilayer materials based on their effective metamorphic properties and resonant response mechanism. Based on this mechanism, versatile, thin, polarization-independent, highly efficient ITO/Al2O3/ZnS/Al structure in a frequency range from UV to IR was designed, manufactured and tested. Thermally evaporated ITO thin films have been used as the substrate for the detector. For the preparation of sapphire nanostructures, first sapphire Nanopowders have been synthesized by sol-gel method and then the prepared powder annealed at 1200 degrees C. The optical properties of the prepared materials used in the structure and the prepared thin films were defined by UV-Vis spectroscopy and a comparative investigation have been done. Also, the surface morphology, elemental analysis and structural properties of the materials used for fabrication of ITO/Sapphire/ZnS/Al superlattice have been investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and energy dispersed X-ray (EDX). In the next step, sapphire nanostructures in the thin film form have been coated on ITO substrate using a simple casting method. A drop of an aqueous solution of Al2O3 nanostructures was dispersed on the substrate, and the product was kept to form a thin film of the nanostructure after evaporation of water from the surface of the substrate a drop of sonochemically prepared ZnS nanostructure was dispersed using the same method. For the preparation of aqueous Al2O3 and ZnS dispersion, 0.01 of each material in powder form dispersed in distilled water in order to provide well-dispersed material, the solution was kept under the ultrasonic bath.