Silicon-based nanostructures as surface enhanced Raman scattering substrates

We report surface enhanced Raman scattering substrates that are low cost and easy to fabricate using silver nanoparticles on silicon wafer and silicon nanowires decorated with the nanoparticles. Numerical simulations showed enhancement factors around 10
⁷
to 10
⁸
at the hot spots, enabling single molecule detection. We demonstrated experimentally the substrates using reduced Graphene oxide solution.