Reactive Ion Etching-assisted Surface-enhanced Raman Scattering Measurements On The Single Nanoparticle Level

Single-nanoparticle surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) measurement is ofessential importance for both fundamental research and practical applications. In thiswork, we develop a new class of single-particle SERS approaches, i.e., reactive ionetching (RIE)-assisted SERS measurements correlated with scanning electronmicroscopy (SEM) strategy (RIE/SERS/SEM), enabling precise and high-resolutionidentification of single gold nanoparticle (AuNP) in facile and reliable manners. Byusing AuNP-coated silicon wafer and quartz glass slide as models, we further employthe developed RIE/SERS/SEM method for interrogating the relationship betweensubstrates and enhancement factor (EF) on the single particle level. Together withtheoretical calculation using an established finite-difference-time-domain (FDTD)method, we demonstrate silicon wafer as superior SERS substrates, facilitatingimprovement of EF values.