Towards plasmon mapping of SERS-active Ag dewetted nanostructures using SPELS

Thermal dewetting of silver thin flm can lead to SERS-active Ag nanoparticles. Here, we report our progress towards using scanning probe energy loss spectroscopy (SPELS) to map the plasmonic behaviour of SERS-active Ag nanoparticles (NP) by investigating NPs produced through the dewetting study of Ag thin flms on SiO2/Si and Ti/SiO2/Si substrates. The nanoparticles size and spatial distribution were controlled by the deposition and thermal annealing parameters. The results of preliminary SPELS measurements of these structures, alongside SERS data show that there is a correlation between the Raman enhancement and the nanoparticle size and interparticle spacing.