Oblique angle deposition and its applications in plasmonics

Plasmonics based on localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) has found many exciting applications recently. Those applications usually require a good morphological and structural control of metallic nanostructures. Oblique angle deposition (OAD) has been demonstrated as a powerful technique for various plasmonic applications due to its advantages in controlling the size, shape, and composition of metallic nanostructures. In this review, we focus on the fabrication of metallic nanostructures by OAD and their applications in plasmonics. After a brief introduction to OAD technique, recent progress of applying OAD in fabricating noble metallic nanostructures for LSPR sensing, surface-enhanced Raman scattering, surface-enhanced infrared absorption, metal-enhanced fluorescence, and metamaterials, and their corresponding properties are reviewed. The future requirements for OAD plasmonics applications are also discussed.