Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy of chemical vapor deposited diamond films

Abstract

By using surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy it was possible to clearly identify very thin diamond and amorphous carbon coatings which were not detectable by normal Raman spectroscopy. A very small amount of silver was sputtered onto the surface of thin diamond depositions. Raman spectra measured through the silver layer exhibited the 1332 cm−1 diamond line and broadbands due to other forms of carbon. Raman scattering measured through silver coatings directly on the silicon substrate revealed extremely thin layers of amorphous carbon.

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy of nanodiamond particles on silver

“…It is estimated that the chemical mechanism can also greatly enhance the scattering cross section. 2,3 Although advantages of the SERS are most useful to the study of organic molecules, 4,5 the investigation of nanodiamond films and diamond-like carbon films by SERS is known to provide information concerning film structure 6,7 and physical properties of diamond-like material ͑DLM͒, 8 there has been little investigations of SERS of nanodiamond particles.…”

Surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy as a probe for local modification of carbon films

“…Indeed, Raman spectroscopy is the technique of choice for identifying bonding in various carbon systems, [13][14][15][16][17][18] while its surface-enhanced variant has been used for the detection of low-dimensionality objects, such as single-wall nanotubes 19 and single molecules, 20,21 and for the study of interfacial phenomena and ultrathin films. [22][23][24] Usually, nm-scale Raman information is obtained using scanning near-field optical microscope ͑SNOM͒ techniques, and to date the highest spatial resolution reported was about 100-150 nm with aperture-based SNOMs 25,26 and about 50 nm when using an apertureless microscope. 27 We investigated an alternative way to detect nm size active areas in carbon films of tens of nm thickness, while still using larger-sized Raman probes of 0.1-1 m. This utilizes the selective enhancement of the signal I* from the zone of interest ͑e.g.…”

Fabrication of bimetallic microfluidic surface-enhanced Raman scattering sensors on paper by screen printing

“…Some methods that have been explored for large scale preparation of SERS substrates include electrochemical etching [11,12], vapour deposition [13], and Langmuir-Blodgett [14]. Their products presented moderate SERS activity, but their stability or uniformity was poor.…”