Self-Assembled Ag–TiN Hybrid Plasmonic Metamaterial: Tailorable Tilted Nanopillar and Optical Properties

Key challenges limiting the adoption of metallic plasmonic nanostructures for practical devices include structural stability and the ease of large-scale fabrication. Overcoming these issues may require novel metamaterial fabrication with potentials for improved durability under extreme conditions. Here, a self-assembled growth of a hybrid plasmonic metamaterial in thin-film form is reported, with epitaxial Ag nanopillars embedded in TiN, a mechanically strong and chemically inert matrix. One of the key achievements lies in the successful control of the tilt angle of the Ag nanopillars (from 0° to 50°), which is attributed to the interplay between the growth kinetics and thermodynamics during deposition. Such an anisotropic nature offered by the tilted Ag nanopillars in TiN matrix is crucial for achieving broadband, asymmetric optical selectivity. Optical spectra coupled with numerical simulations demonstrate strong plasmonic resonance, as well as angular selectivity in a broad UV–vis to near-infrared regime. The nanostructured metamaterials in this work, which consist of highly conductive metallic nanopillars in a durable nitride matrix, have the potential to serve as a novel hybrid material platform for highly tailorable nanoscale metamaterial designs, suitable for high temperature optical applications.