Gold nano-island arrays on silicon as SERS active substrate for organic molecule detection

Gold islands forming highly controlled arrays have been fabricated by two potential step electrochemical deposition method using nanopatterned Si surface templates. In the present work, the Raman scattering studies realized using 11-mercaptoundecanoic probe molecule showed that such structures exhibit an enhanced Raman signal compared with nanostructured physical deposited thin gold film on flat silicon substrate and can be valued as surface-enhanced Raman scattering substrates. Besides the more appropriate management of nano-island arrays distribution, the high ratio of their Raman signals can be explain by the epitaxial-like growth mechanism of the metallic nano-islands, clearly showed by X-ray diffraction studies. Furthermore, the substrates enabled reproducibility and stability detection due to the chemically assembling of organothiol molecules, the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy studies confirming formation of the thiolate species which corresponds to Au-S bonds, and also, the unwanted 'hot-spots' are missing, which make them suitable for high sensitivity biosensing applications. - Highlights: • Gold nano-islands are electrochemical deposited on nanopatterned silicon. • The X-ray diffraction studies revealed the epitaxial-like growth mechanism. • Enhanced Raman signal of Au nano-islands was observed compared with Au nano-film