High contrast scanning nano-Raman spectroscopy of silicon

N. Lee, R. D. Hartschuh, D. Mehtani, A. Kisliuk, J. F. Maguire, M. Green, M. D. Foster, A. P. Sokolov

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

107 Scopus citations

Abstract

We have demonstrated that scanning nano-Raman spectroscopy (SNRS), generally known as tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS), with side illumination optics can be effectively used for analysis of silicon-based structures at the nanoscale. Even though the side illumination optics has disadvantages such as difficulties in optical alignment and shadowing by the tip, it has the critical advantage that it may be used for the analysis of nontransparent samples. A key criterion for making SNRS effective for imaging Si samples is the optimization of the contrast between near-field and far-field (background) Raman signals. This has been achieved by optimizing the beam polarization, resulting in an order of magnitude improvement in the contrast. We estimate the lateral resolution of our Raman images to be ∼ 20 nm.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)789-796
Number of pages8
JournalJournal of Raman Spectroscopy
Volume38
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2007
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Apertureless near-field spectroscopy
  • Depolarization
  • Scanning nano-Raman spectroscopy (SNRS)
  • Silicon
  • Tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS)

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