title: Thickness of a metallic film, in addition to its roughness, plays a significant role in SERS activity.
abstract: In this paper we evaluate the effect of roughness and thickness of silver film substrates, fabricated on glass and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) templates, on surface-enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) activity. While the silver substrates obtained on glass templates exhibit nm-scale roughness, the silver substrates on PDMS templates show larger roughness, on the order of 10 s of nm. These roughness values do not change significantly with the thickness of the silver film. The SERS intensities of 4-aminothiophenol (ATP) deposited on these substrates strongly depend on both roughness and thickness, with more significant contribution from the roughness on thinner films. FEM simulations of the electric field intensities on surfaces of different thicknesses for rough and flat surfaces suggest higher localized plamons on thinner, rough surfaces. This study indicates that, besides roughness, the thickness of the metallic layer plays a significant role in the SERS activity.
authors.affiliation: Center for Biophotonics, University of California, Davis, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA.
authors.forename: Changwon
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Center for Biophotonics, University of California, Davis, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Robertson
authors.affiliation: Center for Biophotonics, University of California, Davis, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA.
authors.forename: An H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, University of Gaziantep, Gaziantep 27310, Turkey.
authors.forename: Mehmet
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kahraman
authors.affiliation: 1] Center for Biophotonics, University of California, Davis, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA [2] Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of California, Davis, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA.
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wachsmann-Hogiu