Surface-enhanced Raman scattering with silicon nanotrees

Nanostructured silicon substrate has been intensively studied in the last years, as promising platform for Surface-enhanced Raman scattering applications. Si based conical shape nanostructures - Si nanotrees, decorated with small Ag nanocubes, are used to improve the Raman signal for molecules detection (e.g. organic dyes). Here in, substrates with a discontinuous film of Ag, deposited on the nanostructured silicon, are fabricated in order to improve the Raman signal even more. Morphological properties are analyzed by using SEM images. Absorbance properties of the fabricated nanocubes are also investigated. Crystal violet was chosen to evaluate the performances of our fabricated detection platform. A good value of $1.5\times 10^{8}$ for enhancement factor, in the case of modified silicon nanotrees like substrate, is determined.