Facilitating surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorsAlexandre Bratkovski, Zhaoning Yu, Ekaterina Ponizovskaya
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus and related methods for facilitating surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) are described along with methods for fabricating the apparatus. For one embodiment, the apparatus comprises a metallic fishnet defining a plurality of voids therein. The metallic fishnet exhibits at least one acute V-shaped cross-sectional feature between at least one adjacent pair of the voids.
Claims16
An apparatus for facilitating surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) comprising a metallic fishnet defining a plurality of voids therein, wherein said metallic fishnet exhibits at least one acute V-shaped cross-sectional feature between at least one adjacent pair of said voids, said apparatus for facilitating SERS-based sensing in which incident radiation is directed toward at least one analyte molecule disposed near said metallic fishnet, each of said voids having a major lateral dimension and a minor lateral dimension relative to a laterally extending face of the metallic fishnet, wherein said minor lateral dimension is less than a wavelength of the incident radiation, and wherein adjacent ones of said voids are laterally separated by a distance that is less than said wavelength.
A method for fabricating a SERS-active structure, comprising forming a metallic fishnet having a predetermined lateral metallic conductor pattern that defines a corresponding predetermined lateral void pattern, wherein said forming a metallic fishnet comprises:
- forming a plurality of vertically extending islands of shadow-masking material laterally patterned on a substrate according to the predetermined lateral void pattern;
- shadow-depositing a metal on the substrate to form a plurality of metallic conductors thereon according to the predetermined lateral metallic conductor pattern, wherein said vertically extending islands of shadow-masking material are configured and dimensioned such that each of said shadow-deposited metallic conductors exhibits at least one acute V-shaped cross-sectional feature;
- and
- causing each of said acute V-shaped cross-sectional features to be in close non-touching proximity to a common laterally extending metallic platform;
- said SERS-active structure for use in a SERS-based system having an incident radiation wavelength, wherein each of said voids has a major lateral dimension that is less than said wavelength, wherein each of said metallic conductors has a thickness that is less than said wavelength, wherein said acute V-shaped cross-sectional features extend outward from said substrate by a common first height, wherein said acute V-shaped cross-sectional features and said metallic platform are brought to a mutual predetermined separation distance, and wherein said predetermined separation distance is less than one-twentieth of said wavelength.
A method for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), comprising:
- causing at least one analyte molecule to be disposed near a metallic fishnet, the metallic fishnet defining a plurality of voids therein and exhibiting at least one acute V-shaped cross-sectional feature between at least one adjacent pair of the voids;
- causing incident electromagnetic radiation to impinge upon the at least one analyte molecule disposed near the metallic fishnet;
- and
- causing Raman radiation scattered from the at least one analyte molecule to be detected,
- said metallic fishnet exhibiting a plurality of acute V-shaped cross-sectional features across a respective plurality of adjacent pairs of said voids, each of said acute V-shaped cross-sectional features pointing outward from said metallic fishnet and separated from a common substantially planar metallic platform by a common predetermined distance, wherein said common predetermined distance is less than about one-twentieth of a wavelength of the incident electromagnetic radiation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.