Identifier

etd-11112011-103621

Degree

Master of Science in Electrical Engineering (MSEE)

Department

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering enhances the weak Raman scattering by using a roughened metal-coated surface as a catalyst. Roughness in the nanometer range provides the best enhancement. The nanostructures for the surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrates, in this work, are generated using an electrochemical etching process on silicon substrates. The patterns of nanoporous silicon thus generated are transferred onto transparent polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrates using the “lift-off” process. An incomplex sputtering technique is employed to coat this substrate with a ~20 nm aluminum layer. Rhodamine 6G (R6G) molecules, when adsorbed to this metal surface, form the final SERS substrate that undergoes Raman spectroscopy characterization. This technique is expected to be useful when simple and photolithography-free techniques need to be employed for SERS substrate fabrication.

Date

2011

Document Availability at the Time of Submission

Release the entire work immediately for access worldwide.

Committee Chair

Hah, Dooyoung

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_theses.1877

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