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Single nanoparticle-based heteronanojunction as a plasmon ruler for measuring dielectric thin films

Single nanoparticle-based heteronanojunction as a plasmon ruler for measuring dielectric thin films
Single nanoparticle-based heteronanojunction as a plasmon ruler for measuring dielectric thin films
Nondestructive, noninvasive and accurate measurement of thin film thicknesses on dielectric substrates is challenging. In this work a ruler for measuring thin film thicknesses utilizes the heteronanojunction construct formed between a plasmonic nanoparticle and a high refractive index nonplasmonic substrate. The high near-field sensitivity in the nanojunction renders it suitable for measuring the thickness of intervening dielectric thin films. We demonstrate this by controlling the thickness of dielectric spacer layers created by overgrowing SiO2 thin films on commercially available silicon substrates. While Rayleigh (using dark-field) scattering measurements show that the spectral response is well correlated to the thickness of SiO2 spacer layers the distance-dependence is much steeper with surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). Good agreement between 3D simulations and experimental results confirm the plasmon ruler construct’s sensitivity to the dielectric thin film spacing. Thus, we postulate that this single nanoparticle based heteronanojunction configuration can serve as a convenient and simple ruler in metrology of thin films as well as a platform for SERS-based detection even in cases where plasmonically active films are not a suitable substrate.
plasmon ruler, dark-field scattering, surface-enhanced raman scattering, silica, gold
1948-7185
2282-2286
Li, Li
8e6fbabd-aac6-4bb0-a273-a77750dc5b92
Hutter, Tanya
b9494787-9ae0-4887-b4ee-dbe0a0b774b1
Li, Wenwu
c265c858-7e2a-4aa8-853c-1a5359395612
Mahajan, Sumeet
b131f40a-479e-4432-b662-19d60d4069e9
Li, Li
8e6fbabd-aac6-4bb0-a273-a77750dc5b92
Hutter, Tanya
b9494787-9ae0-4887-b4ee-dbe0a0b774b1
Li, Wenwu
c265c858-7e2a-4aa8-853c-1a5359395612
Mahajan, Sumeet
b131f40a-479e-4432-b662-19d60d4069e9

Li, Li, Hutter, Tanya, Li, Wenwu and Mahajan, Sumeet (2015) Single nanoparticle-based heteronanojunction as a plasmon ruler for measuring dielectric thin films. The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 6 (12), 2282-2286. (doi:10.1021/acs.jpclett.5b00806).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Nondestructive, noninvasive and accurate measurement of thin film thicknesses on dielectric substrates is challenging. In this work a ruler for measuring thin film thicknesses utilizes the heteronanojunction construct formed between a plasmonic nanoparticle and a high refractive index nonplasmonic substrate. The high near-field sensitivity in the nanojunction renders it suitable for measuring the thickness of intervening dielectric thin films. We demonstrate this by controlling the thickness of dielectric spacer layers created by overgrowing SiO2 thin films on commercially available silicon substrates. While Rayleigh (using dark-field) scattering measurements show that the spectral response is well correlated to the thickness of SiO2 spacer layers the distance-dependence is much steeper with surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). Good agreement between 3D simulations and experimental results confirm the plasmon ruler construct’s sensitivity to the dielectric thin film spacing. Thus, we postulate that this single nanoparticle based heteronanojunction configuration can serve as a convenient and simple ruler in metrology of thin films as well as a platform for SERS-based detection even in cases where plasmonically active films are not a suitable substrate.

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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 2 June 2015
e-pub ahead of print date: 2 June 2015
Published date: 18 June 2015
Keywords: plasmon ruler, dark-field scattering, surface-enhanced raman scattering, silica, gold
Organisations: Institute for Life Sciences, Chemical Biology Group

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 377819
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/377819
ISSN: 1948-7185
PURE UUID: 90577ff6-70e0-4a50-a1de-6389d3b81ad5
ORCID for Sumeet Mahajan: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-8923-6666

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Date deposited: 18 Jun 2015 12:09
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:28

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Contributors

Author: Li Li
Author: Tanya Hutter
Author: Wenwu Li
Author: Sumeet Mahajan ORCID iD

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