Non-destructive plasma frequency measurement for a semiconductor thin film using broadband surface plasmon polaritons

Measurement of the plasma frequency of a semiconductor film using broadband surface plasmon is demonstrated in this paper. We theoretically deduce a formula about the relation between plasma frequency and characteristic surface plasmon frequency. The characteristic surface plasmon frequency can be captured from the cut-off frequency of the transmission spectra of the broadband surface plasmon, which is used to measure the plasma frequency indirectly. The plasma frequencies of an intrinsic indium antimonide with and without optical illuminance are measured with a THz time-domain spectrometer at room temperature. The experimental measured plasma frequencies fit well with theoretical and simulation results. Compared with other methods, the proposed method has a special advantage on measuring the plasma frequency for a thin semiconductor film coated on other materials.