Optical and Quantum Electronics (2022) 54:745

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11082-022-04131-7

Simulation and sensitivity analysis of a plasmonic FET based

sensor in visible spectral range under different design
conditions

Bharathi Raj Muthu1 · Ewins Pon Pushpa1 · Vaithiyanathan Dhandapani2 ·

Anuj K. Sharma3

Received: 10 May 2022 / Accepted: 22 August 2022 / Published online: 16 September 2022
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2022

Abstract
In this work, an Si–SiO2–ZnO–Au nanoparticles (NPs) structure based plasmonic multi-
layer FET design is studied for sensing application. Here, Si is used as a substrate, ZnO
is used as an active layer, and Au NPs are used to introduce the plasmonic enhancement
effect in the proposed FET design. The simulation and analysis are carried out in the visible
spectral range. The effect of design parameters such as the diameter of Au NPs, oblique-
ness of light incidence, and spacing between Au NPs is studied on the sensor’s sensitivity.
Further, the effect of incorporating 3-mercapto propionic acid (3-MPA) with Au NPs has
been studied while targeting an increase in sensitivity of the proposed device. The results
indicate that the size of NPs and angle of light incidence have a coupled effect on the sen-
sitivity. Further, at normal incidence, the larger size of Au NPs can be helpful in achieving
greater sensitivity (finer limit of detection) and larger figure of merit. Also, smaller spacing
between the NPs leads to enhanced absorption behaviour. Furthermore, the incorporation
of 3-MPA has the capability to increase the sensitivity, particularly for the detection of low
refractive index (RI) media (e.g., gaseous ones). The proposed device design can be help-
ful in gaseous and RI sensing along with biosensing (with 3-MPA) in the visible spectral
range.

Keywords Plasmon · Nanoparticle · LSPR · FET · Sensitivity · Obliqueness

* Bharathi Raj Muthu

mbharathiraj@yahoo.in
1
Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, College of Engineering Guindy,
Anna University, Chennai 600 025, India
2
Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, National Institute of Technology
Delhi, Delhi 110 036, India
3
Department of Applied Sciences (Physics Division), National Institute of Technology Delhi,
Delhi 110 036, India

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745 Page 2 of 17 B. R. Muthu et al.

1 Introduction

The advancements in nanomaterials and nanostructures bring out interesting optical prop-
erties which widened their use in various applications. The use of photonics in advanced
material science helps in developing bio-photonic devices for clinical diagnostics (West
and Halas 2003), thermal photodynamic therapy for cancer treatment (Guleryuz and
Unal 2021), measurement of DNA-DNA hybridization (Yousuf and Kim 2021), detection
of haemoglobin concentration, and identification of protein bindings (Li and Zhu 2019)
among other applications. Several label-free detection methods have been proposed to
characterize the interactions among the biomolecules. In recent years, the surface plasmon
resonance (SPR)-based biosensors have drawn huge attention of researchers in detecting
the changes in the refractive index (RI) at the surface of the biosensor (Altug and Oh 2022;
Hossain and Paul 2022). In one of the possible ways, the change in RI may occur due to the
mass change caused by the bonding of analytes with the immobilized ligands (Rapp and
Gruhl 2010). SPR based sensors can also be implemented using photonic modules such
as waveguide, grating, and optical fibers. Indium tin oxide (ITO) along with a polymer
combination of poly-allylamine hydrochloride and poly-acrylic acid is a good choice in the
fiber optic sensors. The ITO provides enhanced plasmonic excitation and the polymer pro-
vides superior sensing performance (Mishra and Mishra 2021). It has been reported in case
of polymer waveguide that the Cu and ­SiO2 may be coated as protective layers leading to
greater sensitivity magnitudes in the presence of aqueous solution (Mishra and Zou 2016).
The label-free technique used in SPR-based sensors avoids time consumption in the
labelling process of the analytes (Couture and Zhao 2013). The focus of light wavelength
in the nanometer (nm) range beyond the diffraction limit helps in the coupling light with
the free electrons present at the metal surface. This coupling produces oscillation and
excitation of free electrons at the boundary of the metal surface and dielectric material.
These coherent electronic oscillations are termed as surface plasmons. The surface plas-
mon wave (SPW) is resonantly excited if the wave-vector of incident light matches with
that of surface plasmon oscillations (Homola 2003), etc. The resonance/plasma frequency
of the SPW depends on the effective mass and density of the electrons and how easily the
electrons respond to the incident field (Li and Cushing 2015). The excitation of electrons
by absorption of photons near the metal surface causes thermionic diffusion of electrons
resulting in photocurrent and could alter the energy band structure of the semiconductor
(Tagliabue and Jermyn 2018). When this plasmonic coupling occurs in the 0-dimensional
structure i.e., nanoparticles (NPs), it is termed as localized SPR or LSPR (Masson 2020).
The impact of LSPR in the Au NPs improves photocurrent responsiveness, lowers the elec-
tron-hole diffusion length, and increases the generation of electron-hole pairs. The Au NPs
increase the effectiveness of electronic transmission while being biocompatible (Wang and
Guo 2021). The generated plasmonic energy may be detected and amplified with the aid
of a plasmon field-effect transistor (FET), which collects the hot electrons and contribute
to the drain current of the transistor. Moreover, the applied gate voltage bias regulates the
internal electric field and helps in the quantum tunneling of hot electrons (Kojori and Yun
2016). The FET comprises of the substrate, an oxide layer, and an active layer over which
the NPs are arranged. The FET comprises of the substrate, an oxide layer, and an active
layer over which the NPs are arranged. Zinc oxide (ZnO) is an excellent candidate with
favourable physical and chemical properties such as stability, radiation hardness, and a
direct bandgap of 3.37 eV and used in the plasmonic FET and other photonic applications
(Kumar and Dixit 2017).

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Gold (Au) NPs exhibit notable physiochemical properties and has excellent chemical
stability. Thus, it is widely used in biomedical applications for drug delivery, thermal treat-
ment, and bioimaging. Also, the Au NPs are non-toxic and bio-inert, and their small size
helps to break the biological barriers to the drug delivery paving the ways for it to become
a feasible medium in diagnostics and treatment stages (Sibuyi and Moabelo 2021). On the
other hand, the silver nanoparticle has antimicrobial, catalytic, and biological properties
and is hence used as an anti-infective agent. It possesses a good plasmonic response in the
visible range of wavelength and lags in biocompatibility since it acts differently with dif-
ferent organisms (Stater and Sonay 2021). Silver NPs possess high cytotoxicity and weak
colloidal stability compared to gold NPs and are hence not preferred widely (Dhayalan and
Karikalan 2021). With the above background, it is interesting to note that zinc oxide (ZnO)
has the ingredients to remain an active material in biosensors for its high electronic stabil-
ity, direct and wide bandgap of 3.37 eV, exciton binding energy, cost efficiency, and easy to
fabricate (Lin and Du 2021). ZnO layer produces oxygen vacancy under the illumination of
the UV light and alters the intrinsic property and physio-chemical properties of the materi-
als. This reactive oxygen from the ZnO layer makes it possible to use it in the anticancer
and antibacterial treatment process. The non-toxicity, biocompatibility, and antimicrobial
activity helps to deal with the human body and are used in sensing and imaging to monitor
and track the patient’s health (Shetti and Bukkitgar 2019). The 3-mercapto propionic acid
(3-MPA) coated over the Au NPs improvises the sensitivity of the biosensor which shows
an increase in the absorption peak with the incidence of light (Li and Wang 2007). 3-MPA
has the thiol (–SH) terminating structure which helps to bind well on the gold surface and
alters its RI causing the red shift in the absorption spectrum. The improvements in the
absorption paves the way for achieving better sensitivity and selectivity to reach the targets
in the biological process (Kojori and Yun 2016). Under the oblique incidence of illumina-
tion, Au NPs exhibit strong enhancement of electric field and broad scattering cross-sec-
tion (Kuo and Chuang 2016). The electric field intensity of the illuminated light is much
stronger when the Au NPs are partially embedded in the active layer (ZnO) due to a higher
dielectric constant and relatively less dielectric constant in the region surrounded by the air
(Moirangthem and Yaseen 2012).
2D materials such as graphene and Molybdenum disulphide (­MoS2) provide enhanced
photocurrent. Their absorption capacity may be improved when doped with Au NPs (Lin
and Li 2013). ­MoS2 is cost-effective, provides high switching speed and high response of
up to 240% (Liu and Chen 2019). ZnO provides strong absorption, large bandgap, large
exciton binding energy (60 meV) and high electron mobility (Wahab and Salama 2018).
It provides effective energy detection and accumulates the hot electron produced in the
Plasmon FET with reduced schottky barrier height (Kojori and Yun 2016). The density of
the doped Au NPs and its position has a considerable impact on the electric field gener-
ated by the hot electrons and plasmonic energy efficiency providing assistance in energy
harvesting (Kojori and Yun 2016). ZnO nanostructures help in reducing the detection loss
and work in broad spectral range but have the demerit of conversion efficiency at longer
wavelengths (Cho and Seongman 2018). As far as the possible applications are concerned,
the plasmonic FET based biosensing devices may have several potential advantages over
other diagnostic methods, especially in terms of sensitivity and instantaneous measurement
of the targets. As mentioned earlier, 2D materials possess elite properties such as high elec-
tronic conductivity, high mobility, and larger surface area (Seo and Lee 2020), which can
further assist the desired biosensing applications owing to its strong adsorption character-
istics. Still, academic and industrial research is focused on sensitivity and selectivity to
develop a low-cost, highly reliable, compact, high speed, and user-friendly biosensor for

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the diagnostic system (Iravani 2020). Keeping the above facts and limitations into consid-
eration, in this work, we propose a plasmonic FET-based sensor that works in the visible
wavelength range possessing absorption enhancement and highly photosensitive behavior
owing to the incorporation of 3-MPA. Au NPs of different sizes are subjected to electro-
magnetic waves with and without 3-MPA coating and its spectral properties are analyzed.
The detailed study of absorption, scattering, and transmission is carried out with respect to
the oblique incidence of light. The spacing between the NPs, sizing effect, and wave inter-
ference are considered important factors influencing the plasmon FET-based sensor.

2 Design considerations and simulation arrangement

In this simulation model, Au NPs of spherical shape are doped on the active layer of the
plasmon FET (Fig. 1). We use ZnO as an active layer with a thickness of 50 nm exhibit-
ing the strong plasmonic absorption around the resonant wavelength of 520 nm. Au NPs
of radius ranging 5–50 nm are used to demonstrate the plasmon FET at the visible wave-
length range of 400–700 nm. The substrate silicon is considered with 1 × 1 µm of width
and length and 100 nm thickness. Silicon dioxide ­(SiO2) is stacked over the substrate
which is of the same 1 × 1 µm of width and length with 50 nm thickness. The Lumerical
Design suite is used to simulate the Au NPs of various sizes using the finite difference time
domain (FDTD) methodology. The boundary conditions perfectly matched layer (PML) is
used in XYZ directions to absorb the light providing very minimal reflections and avoiding

Fig. 1  a Perspective view of the proposed plasmon FET device. Layers:—1: substrate, 2: oxide, 3: active
layer, and 4: Au NPs b Cross-sectional view of the proposed plasmon FET device

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numerical instabilities. The plasmonic structure has the resonance peak concerning its size
i.e., the larger the nanostructure, the longer is the corresponding peak wavelength. The crit-
ical factor influencing the plasmonic behaviour is the size and periodicity of the nanostruc-
tures. Since the gold nanostructures used over the active layer are considered to be sym-
metric, there is negligible polarization dependence, and, hence, the collection of photons
from the light source is anticipated to be very high. Another important factor is periodicity,
where the increased spacing between the NPs leads to the minimal area and the absorption
strength becomes minimal. On the other hand, the increase in the sizing of the nanostruc-
tures leads to loss of the hot electrons and reduced internal efficiency in the metal structure.
Further, Table 1 enlists the considered values of geometric dimensions of the device
components and their corresponding materials.
Figure 2 explains the simulation methodology carried out in the Lumerical FDTD to
solve the electromagnetic modules. Material definition, geometry of nanostructures,
boundary conditions, input source and other field monitors are placed around the nano-
structure and the corresponding electric field, magnetic field, absorption, scattering, and
transmission coefficients are calculated.
The general methodology to experimentally fabricate the proposed plasmon FET
involves p-type substrate/backgate silicon material with typical boron doping level of
­1020 ­cm−3. Then the thermal oxidation process is carried out over the silicon wafer to cre-
ate ­SiO2 layer. The thin ZnO layer is deposited using RF magnetron sputtering method
at 3000 K with the typical doping concentration of ­1016 ­cm−3. Photolithography and wet
etching process using HCl is used for the isolation of ZnO channel. Ohmic contact between
the source/drain and n-type ZnO layer is deposited with chromium or Au layer using elec-
tron beam evaporation process. The thermal reflow method or oxidation–reduction method
is used to create the self assembled Au nanostructure and to control the size of Au NPs
(Kojori and Yun 2016).

3 Results and discussion

3.1 Absorption, scattering, and transmission characteristics of Au NPs for different

background RI values

Figure 3 shows the simulated absorption spectra of the proposed device corresponding to
four different diameters of Au NPs and for two values of background RI.
In both the cases pertaining to different background RI, the absorption peak undergoes
a red-shift with an increase in the diameter of Au NPs. The above result can be understood

Table 1  Details of the plasmon FET device components

Layer no Role Material Length (x) Length (y) Length (z)
Thickness

1 Substrate Si 1 μm 1 μm 100 nm
2 Oxide SiO2 1 μm 1 μm 50 nm
3 Active layer ZnO 1 μm 1 μm 50 nm
4 NPs* Au Radius: (5 to 50) nm

* Spacing between Au NPs is typically 1–5 nm

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745 Page 6 of 17 B. R. Muthu et al.

Fig. 2  Flowchart explaining the simulation methodology for plasmon FET based sensor device

in terms of change in metal-dielectric constant for different sizes of spherical Au nanopar-

ticles. According to the Drude model, the frequency-dependent complex dielectric function
may be written as:

𝜔2p
𝜀m (𝜔) = 𝜀∞ − ( ) (1)
𝜔 𝜔 + i𝜔d

where ε∞ is the high-frequency dielectric function, while ωp and ωd are the bulk plasma
frequency and damping frequency, respectively. These are given by:

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Fig. 3  Simulated absorption spectra of the proposed device corresponding to four different diameters
(10 nm, 30 nm, 60 nm, and 100 nm) of Au NPs for background RI = a 1.00 RIU and b 1.33 RIU. Normal
incidence of light has been considered

Ne2
𝜔2p = (2)
m𝜀0

and,
vf
𝜔d = (3)
Rb

where N represents the concentration of free electrons; m and e represent the effective
mass and the charge of the electron. ­Rb represents the mean free path of the conduction
electrons, and ­vf represents the Fermi velocity of electrons. When the particle size, R, is
smaller than the mean free path in the bulk metal, conduction electrons are additionally
scattered by the surface, and the mean free path, ­Reff, becomes size-dependent with
1 1 1
Reff
= +
R Rb (4)

Hence, the size dependence of damping frequency is given by

vf
𝜔d (R) = 𝜔d (bulk) + (5)
R
Thus, Eq. (1) together with (2)–(5) completely represents the size-dependent dielectric
function of a metal nanoparticle even down to a size of 2 nm. According to Maxwell-Garnet
(MG) theory, the effective dielectric function (εav) of a composite consisting of high-volume-
fraction metal NPs isotropically dispersed in a medium is given by the expression:
( )
3𝜑𝛽
𝜀av = 𝜀H 1 + , (6)
1 − 𝜑𝛽

where
𝜀m − 𝜀H
𝛽=
𝜀m + 2𝜀H (7)

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745 Page 8 of 17 B. R. Muthu et al.

and ϕ is the volume fraction of the embedded particles and εH is the dielectric function of
the host material in which the metal NPs are embedded.
Further, the above red-shift of absorption peak has a larger magnitude for background RI
of 1.33. This is due to the plasmonic resonance condition given by the following equation:
�
⎛ 𝜀m n2a ⎞
2𝜋 𝜔
np sin 𝜃 = ±Re⎜ ⎟ (8)
𝜆 ⎜c 𝜀m + n2a ⎟
⎝ ⎠

In Eq. (8), λ is the wavelength of the incident light, θ is the light incidence angle, c is
the speed of light in free space, and ω is the angular frequency of light. Further, ­na is the
background RI and εm is the dielectric constant of metal NPs (as discussed above). So, at
any constant value of θ, as one increases the value of background RI (­ na), the plasmon res-
onance (indicated by the absorption peak) occurs at a longer wavelength, which is clearly
visible in Fig. 3.
Apart from the above size-dependent and plasmonic effects in Au NPs, it is also impor-
tant to study the scattering effects as it can affect the performance of the proposed device.
In this context, Fig. 4 presents the scattering cross-section of Au NPs of different sizes
(apparently the same sizes as discussed in Fig. 3).
Clearly, the scattering peak magnitude increases with an increase in the size of the Au
NPs. This result is also consistent with the Mie scattering theory of spherical Au NPs
(Jain and Lee 2006). Thus, it is preferable to use the Au NPs of smaller diameters (e.g.,
10–30 nm) to keep the scattering behaviour in control.
Further in this context, we analyse the transmission spectra of the proposed device for
different sizes of spherical Au NPs and for different background RI values (Fig. 5).
In effect, the above plots represent the LSPR spectra, which are imperative to analyse
for testing the sensing capability of the proposed device design. The foremost task is to
observe that for any value of ­na (either 1.00 or 1.33), the transmitted power curve under-
goes a dip at some specific wavelength (say, λLSPR), which (i) represents the fulfillment of
LSPR condition (as discussed in Eq. 8), and (ii) assumes a different value for different ­na
as well as varies with a variation in the diameter of Au NPs. These observations have been
numerically quantified in Table 2.

Fig. 4  Simulated spectral variation of scattering cross-section for the proposed device corresponding to four
different diameters (10 nm, 30 nm, 60 nm, and 100 nm) of Au NPs for background RI = a 1.00 RIU and b
1.33 RIU. Normal incidence of light has been considered

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Fig. 5  Simulated spectral variation of optical power transmission for the proposed device corresponding
to four different diameters (10 nm, 30 nm, 60 nm, and 100 nm) of Au NPs for background RI = a 1.00 RIU
and b 1.33 RIU. Normal incidence of light has been considered

Table 2  Values of λLSPR corresponding to different diameters of Au NPs for two values of ­na. Shift in λLSPR
and sensing performance parameters have also been shown
Diameter of Resonant wavelength, Shift in λLSPR (nm) Sensitivity, ­Sn FOM LOD
Au NPs (nm) λLSPR (nm) for Δna = 0.33 RIU (nm/RIU) (RIU−1) (RIU)
na = 1.00 na = 1.33

10 511.23 538.17 26.94 81.64 0.75 1.225 × ­10–5

30 512.72 539.62 26.90 81.52 0.77 1.227 × ­10–5
60 519.58 549.37 29.79 90.27 0.78 1.108 × ­10–5
100 522.49 559.25 36.76 111.39 – 8.977 × ­10–6

It is visible that the proposed device design has the capability of sensing gaseous
(i.e., ­na in the vicinity of 1.00 RIU) as well as liquid media (i.e., ­na in the vicinity of
1.3 RIU). Clearly, λLSPR undergoes a red-shift with an increase in the diameter of Au
NPs. If we focus on the sensing performance of the proposed device design, the shift
in λLSPR will be the key parameter. For that matter, sensitivity ­(Sn) of LSPR sensor is
defined as:
Δ𝜆LSPR
Sn (in nm/RIU) = (9)
Δna

As shown in the above table, the shift in λLSPR (corresponding to Δna = 0.33 RIU,
i.e., difference between 1.33 and 1.00) shows a significant increase for larger diameters
(60 nm, 1000 nm) compared to smaller diameters (10 nm, 30 nm). It leads to greater
sensitivity (as shown in the rightmost column of Table 2) for larger diameters. The
rationale behind this effect is consistent with that discussed vis-à-vis Fig. 3. Effectively,
the above is a coupled effect of spectral and size-dependent alterations in the plasmonic
resonance corresponding to Au NPs as discussed in Eqs. (1–8). The limit of detection
(LOD) of the sensor is defined as:

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745 Page 10 of 17 B. R. Muthu et al.

Δ𝜆SW
LOD (in RIU) = (10)
Sn

In Eq. (10), ΔλSW (typically, 1 pm) is the spectral width of the optical signal detection
system. Further, the figure of merit (FOM) of the sensor can be calculated as:
( ) Sn
FOM in RIU - 1 = (11)
FWHM
In Eq. (11), FWHM is the spectral width of corresponding power transmittance curve.
Table 2 also shows that the sensitivity, LOD, and FOM of the proposed sensor marginally
improve for greater size of Au NPs.

3.2 Effect of obliqueness of light incidence on sensitivity

The obliqueness of light incidence is another important aspect in terms of sensing per-
formance of the proposed device design as it is not always entirely certain to ensure
the perfect normal incidence. In fact, an oblique incidence is something which may
be preferred if it is to bring any improvement in the sensing performance. In this con-
text, Fig. 6 presents the simulated transmission spectra of the proposed device at three

Fig. 6  Simulated spectral variation of optical power transmission for the proposed device corresponding to
four different angles of incidence (0°, 15°, and 30°) for Au NPs diameter of a 10 nm, b 30 nm, c 50 nm, and
d 100 nm. The value of n­ a is 1.00 for these figures

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Simulation and sensitivity analysis of a plasmonic FET based… Page 11 of 17 745

different angles of incidence corresponding to four different diameters of Au NPs. The

background RI has been taken as 1.00 RIU.
These plots clearly depict that not only the value of Au NPs diameter but the angle
of incidence is also playing an important role, which may be correlated with the Fresnel
coefficients for reflection and transmission of light in the multilayer systems and their
dependence on different parameters such as the thickness of the media involved and
the angle of light incidence. In general, a greater angle of light incidence (when it is
smaller than the corresponding Brewster’s angle) leads to more loss of power in terms
of increased reflectivity, thus, leading to a decrease in transmission coefficient. It may
also be observed that for a smaller diameter of Au NPs, in addition to fundamental plas-
monic resonance dip, there are stronger appearances of higher-order plasmonic reso-
nance dips towards longer wavelengths. However, if we shift our focus towards the effect
of obliqueness on sensing performance, we would require to observe the above spectra
for another value of n­ a (i.e., 1.33). Figure 7 shows the corresponding LSPR spectra for
­na = 1.33.
It should be noted that there are higher-order plasmonic resonances (at longer wave-
lengths) for ­na = 1.33 as well, they appear in the infrared region, which is not considered
in this study. In order to clearly appreciate the sensing performance dependence on the
obliqueness of the incident light, Table 3 enlists the details corresponding to Figs. 6, 7.

Fig. 7  Simulated spectral variation of optical power transmission for the proposed device corresponding to
four different angles of incidence (0°, 15°, and 30°) for Au NPs diameter of a 10 nm, b 30 nm, c 50 nm, and
d 100 nm. The value of n­ a is 1.33 for these figures

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Page 12 of 17

Table 3  Values of λLSPR corresponding to Figs. 6 and 7. Shift in λLSPR has also been shown
Diameter of Au Angle of light inci- Resonant wavelength, λLSPR (nm) Shift in λLSPR (nm) for Sn FOM LOD
NPs (nm) dence (in deg.) Δna = 0.33 RIU (nm/RIU) (RIU−1) (RIU)
na = 1.00 na = 1.33
1st dip 2nd dip 1st dip 2nd dip

10 0 511.04 626.35 536.52 – 25.48 77.21 0.71 1.295 × ­10–5

15 511.41 626.60 536.72 – 25.31 76.70 0.72 1.304 × ­10–5
30 512.70 626.60 537.34 – 24.64 74.67 0.73 1.339 × ­10–5
30 0 512.16 623.84 540.04 – 27.88 84.48 0.80 1.183 × ­10–5
15 512.16 623.84 540.25 – 28.09 85.12 0.82 1.175 × ­10–5
30 513.48 624.39 540.66 – 27.18 82.36 0.83 1.214 × ­10–5
60 0 519.19 626.35 659.41 549.15 – 29.96 90.79 0.76 1.101 × ­10–5
15 519.58 626.35 549.58 – 30 90.91 0.77 1.099 × ­10–5
659.41
30 520.74 626.35 551.10 – 30.36 92.00 0.82 1.087 × ­10–5
659.73
100 0 522.30 623.56 559.03 643.94 36.73 111.30 - 8.98 × ­10–6
15 522.69 623.56 559.92 644.23 37.23 112.82 0.56 8.864 × ­10–6
30 523.66 624.11 562.17 644.53 38.51 116.70 0.89 8.569 × ­10–6

Sn, LOD, and FOM are calculated considering first dips, i.e., fundamental plasmonic resonance, only
B. R. Muthu et al.
Simulation and sensitivity analysis of a plasmonic FET based… Page 13 of 17 745

The above table shows that the diameter (of Au NPs) and angle of light incidence are
showing a combined effect on the shift in λLSPR for a given variation in n­ a. For a given
value of diameter, the maximum shift in λLSPR occurs for a particular angle only. For
instance, if the diameter is chosen as 10 nm, then the maximum shift in λLSPR occurs for an
angle of 15°, while for 60 nm diameter, the maximum shift in λLSPR occurs for an angle of
30°. There seems to be no certain pattern for the combination of diameter and angle that
may possibly lead to a maximum shift in λLSPR causing greater sensitivity, finer LOD, and
greater FOM achieved by the sensor. In practical terms, the above table may be helpful in
deciding the range of angle of incidence once the diameter of Au NPs is known by certain
characterization methods. Those values of angle of incidence may be chosen for a given
size of Au NPs, which may yield the maximum shift in λLSPR (i.e., leading to maximum
sensitivity and FOM, along with finest LOD).

3.3 Influence of spacing (S) between Au NPs

The absorption spectrum of Au NPs varies with respect to the spacing among them. There
are few experimental studies reported under different sizing and spacing between NPs. One
among them is Au nanodisks with sizing of 100 nm, 200 nm, and 300 nm diameter with
the spacing of 100 nm, 200 nm, and 200 nm respectively. These nanodisks provide patterns
in broad spectral range i.e. from visible to optical communication range (Cho and Seong-
man 2018).
In a sequence of Au NPs considered for the device design (as shown in Fig. 1), the spac-
ing between NPs can be varied upto a certain extent (e.g., 1–5 nm) depending on its size
considered in the design. So, it is worthwhile to analyse how the nanoparticle spacing (say,
S) may affect the absorption spectra, and eventually the sensing performance of the device
design. In this context, Fig. 8 depicts the corresponding absorption spectra for different
values of S.
From these plots, it is clear that for any value of n­ a, the absorption coefficient magnitude
is affected when the value of S is varied. More specifically, the peak magnitude of absorp-
tion coefficient is larger for smaller S. For that matter, there is a significant decrease in peak
magnitude of the absorption coefficient for S = 5 nm compared to S = 1 nm. This result

Fig. 8  Simulated spectral variation of absorption coefficient for the proposed device corresponding to dif-
ferent values of nanoparticle spacing (S). The a part of the figure corresponds to n­ a = 1.00, while b part cor-
responds to ­na = 1.33. In both the figures, diameter of Au NPs is 30 nm

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745 Page 14 of 17 B. R. Muthu et al.

may be linked with the MG theory, which is suitable for small spherical NPs (e.g., gold or
silver) isotropically distributed within a continuous matrix (as shown in Fig. 1). The net
effect is the creation of a dense matrix of the host material containing mono-disperse metal
NPs with known dielectric properties, embedded at a constant, uniform distance from one
another. It suggests that any variation in the spacing between NPs may possibly lead to a
change in the overall dielectric constant of the NPs assembly. It would certainly have an
influence on the absorption characteristics also, which is visible in Fig. 8. Going further
with this aspect, it may be envisaged that the smaller spacing between NPs can possibly
lead to stronger confinement of light in the matrix, which leads to enhanced absorption
coefficient, i.e., larger power (transmitted) variation, which is bound to improve the sensing
performance of the device design.

3.4 Incorporation of 3‑MPA with Au NPs

As discussed in Sect. 1, the incorporation of 3-MPA coated over the Au NPs may improve
the device’s sensitivity. In this view, we have analyzed the effect of the incorporation of
3-MPA on the device’s absorption spectra in order to gauge the possible effects of it. Fig-
ure 9 demonstrates the simulated absorption spectra of the proposed device design for
­na = 1.00 and ­na = 1.33.
It is visible from these plots that the incorporation of 3-MPA brings reasonably differ-
ent influences on the absorption spectrum corresponding to ­na = 1.00 and ­na = 1.33. For
­na = 1.00, the peak of absorption coefficient not only reasonably increases in magnitude
but also undergoes a red-shift in the corresponding wavelength (i.e., λLSPR) for the design
having 3-MPA incorporated Au NPs. More precisely, for n­ a = 1.00, λLSPR is 522.49 nm
for Au NPs based design and it red-shifts to 539.01 nm for 3-MPA incorporated Au NPs
based design. It indicates that for lower values of n­ a, the sensitivity can definitely increase
when the Au NPs are loaded with 3-MPA. For ­na = 1.33, though, the red-shift in λLSPR still
occurs (559.25 nm for Au NPs based design and 567 nm for 3-MPA incorporated Au NPs
based design), the peak magnitude of absorption coefficient decreases for the design having
3-MPA incorporated Au NPs. The red-shift in λLSPR is still favourable as far as the intended
increase in sensitivity is concerned. Thus, it may be concluded that the incorporation of

Fig. 9  Simulated spectral variation of absorption coefficient for the proposed device corresponding to Au
NPs (diameter = 100 nm) and Au NPs (diameter = 100 nm) + 3-MPA (thickness = 10 nm). The a part of the
figure corresponds to ­na = 1.00, while b part corresponds to ­na = 1.33

13
Simulation and sensitivity analysis of a plasmonic FET based… Page 15 of 17 745

3-MPA is useful in increasing the sensitivity of the proposed device design particularly for
low RI media (e.g., gaseous ones).

4 Conclusion

Si–SiO2–ZnO–Au NPs (spherical) structure based plasmon FET design is simulated and
analysed strictly focusing on its sensing application. The effect of design parameters such
as the diameter of Au NPs and obliqueness is studied on the sensor’s sensitivity. The analy-
sis has also been aimed at absorption and scattering characteristics along with possible
distortion in the corresponding spectra. The results indicate that greater sensitivity can be
achieved for larger diameters of Au NPs. This is due to modification in the dielectric con-
stant of Au NPs due to variation in their size. Further results show that diameter (of Au
NPs) and angle of light incidence (i.e., obliqueness) possess a combined effect on the shift
in λLSPR for a given variation in ­na. Although there is no certain pattern of the above com-
bination (diameter-angle) vis-à-vis maximum shift in λLSPR, the results are highly useful
in deciding the range of angles particularly when the size of Au NPs is known, which may
possibly lead to the maximum shift in λLSPR (i.e., maximum sensitivity, finest LOD, and
improved FOM). Also, the spacing between NPs should be kept as small as possible for
ensuring larger absorption of light by NPs. Further, the results show that incorporation
of 3-MPA can help in improving the sensitivity and LOD of the proposed device design,
particularly for low RI media (e.g., gaseous ones). Plasmon FET is highly sensitive to the
gaseous analytes such as ammonia, benzene, carbon monoxide, hydrogen etc., and and its
sensitivity is highly improved with the incorporation of 3-MPA. This kind of sensor can be
utilized to detect the presence of toxic gases.

Acknowledgements The financial support to B. R. Muthu for this work was given by the College of Engi-
neering Guindy, Anna University, Chennai, India (Grant No. Lr. No. CFR/ACRF/2016/20).

Data availability The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from
the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Declarations
Conflict of interest The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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