Richard Kasica

Plasmonic nanopillar arrays for large-area, high-enhancement surface-enhanced Raman scattering sensors.

Efforts to create reproducible surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)-based chemical and biological sensors has been hindered by difficulties in fabricating large-area SERS-active substrates with a uniform, reproducible SERS response that still provides sufficient enhancement for easy detection. Here we report on periodic arrays of Au-capped, vertically aligned silicon nanopillars that are embedded in a Au plane upon a Si substrate. We illustrate that these arrays are ideal for use as SERS sensor templates, in that they provide large, uniform and reproducible average enhancement factors up to ∼1.2 × 10(8) over the structure surface area. We discuss the impact of the overall geometry of the structures upon the SERS response at 532, 633, and 785 nm incident laser wavelengths. Calculations of the electromagnetic field distributions and intensities within such structures were performed and both the wavelength dependence of the predicted SERS response and the field distribution within the nanopillar structure are discussed and support the experimental results we report.

Low-Loss, Extreme Subdiffraction Photon Confinement via Silicon Carbide Localized Surface Phonon Polariton Resonators

Plasmonics provides great promise for nanophotonic applications. However, the high optical losses inherent in metal-based plasmonic systems have limited progress. Thus, it is critical to identify alternative low-loss materials. One alternative is polar dielectrics that support surface phonon polariton (SPhP) modes, where the confinement of infrared light is aided by optical phonons. Using fabricated 6H-silicon carbide nanopillar antenna arrays, we report on the observation of subdiffraction, localized SPhP resonances. They exhibit a dipolar resonance transverse to the nanopillar axis and a monopolar resonance associated with the longitudinal axis dependent upon the SiC substrate. Both exhibit exceptionally narrow linewidths (7-24 cm(-1)), with quality factors of 40-135, which exceed the theoretical limit of plasmonic systems, with extreme subwavelength confinement of (λ(res)3/V(eff))1/3 = 50-200. Under certain conditions, the modes are Raman-active, enabling their study in the visible spectral range. These observations promise to reinvigorate research in SPhP phenomena and their use for nanophotonic applications.

Directed Self-Assembly of Epitaxial CoFe2O4-BiFeO3 Multiferroic Nanocomposites

CoFe(2)O(4) (CFO)-BiFeO(3) (BFO) nanocomposites are an intriguing option for future memory and logic technologies due to the magnetoelectric properties of the system. However, these nanocomposites form with CFO pillars randomly located within a BFO matrix, making implementation in devices difficult. To overcome this, we present a technique to produce patterned nanocomposites through self-assembly. CFO islands are patterned on Nb-doped SrTiO(3) to direct the self-assembly of epitaxial CFO-BFO nanocomposites, producing square arrays of CFO pillars.

Mie resonance-enhanced light absorption in periodic silicon nanopillar arrays.

Mie-resonances in vertical, small aspect-ratio and subwavelength silicon nanopillars are investigated using visible bright-field µ-reflection measurements and Raman scattering. Pillar-to-pillar interactions were examined by comparing randomly to periodically arranged arrays with systematic variations in nanopillar diameter and array pitch. First- and second-order Mie resonances are observed in reflectance spectra as pronounced dips with minimum reflectances of several percent, suggesting an alternative approach to fabricating a perfect absorber. The resonant wavelengths shift approximately linearly with nanopillar diameter, which enables a simple empirical description of the resonance condition. In addition, resonances are also significantly affected by array density, with an overall oscillating blue shift as the pitch is reduced. Finite-element method and finite-difference time-domain simulations agree closely with experimental results and provide valuable insight into the nature of the dielectric resonance modes, including a surprisingly small influence of the substrate on resonance wavelength. To probe local fields within the Si nanopillars, µ-Raman scattering measurements were also conducted that confirm enhanced optical fields in the pillars when excited on-resonance.

The Role of Propagating and Localized Surface Plasmons for SERS Enhancement in Periodic Nanostructures

Periodic arrays of plasmonic nanopillars have been shown to provide large, uniform surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) enhancements. We show that these enhancements are the result of the combined impact of localized and propagating surface plasmon modes within the plasmonic architecture. Here, arrays of periodically arranged silicon nanopillars of varying sizes and interpillar gaps were fabricated to enable the exploration of the SERS response from two different structures; one featuring only localized surface plasmon (LSP) modes and the other featuring LSP and propagating (PSP) modes. It is shown that the LSP modes determine the optimal architecture, and thereby determine the optimum diameter for the structures at a given incident. However, the increase in the SERS enhancement factor for a system in which LSP and PSP cooperatively interact was measured to be over an order of magnitude higher and the peak in the diameter dependence was significantly broadened, thus, such structures not only provide larger enhancement factors but are also more forgiving of lithographic variations.

Nanoparticle size determination using optical microscopes

We present a simple method for size determination of nanoparticles using conventional optical microscopes. The method, called through-focus scanning optical microscopy, makes use of the four-dimensional optical information collected at different focus positions. Low partial coherence illumination combined with analysis of through-focus optical content enables nanoparticle size determination with nanometer scale sensitivity. We experimentally demonstrate this using fabricated Si nanodots and spherical gold nanoparticles. The method is economical, as no hardware modifications to conventional optical microscopes are needed. In addition, the method also has high throughput and potential for soft nanoparticle size determination without distortion.

Robust auto-alignment technique for orientation-dependent etching of nanostructures

A robust technique is presented for auto-aligning nanostructures to slow-etching planes during crystallographic etching of silicon. Lithographic mask patterns are modified from the intended dimensions of the nanostructures to compensate for uncertainty in crystal axis orientation. The technique was employed in fabricating silicon nanolines having lengths of 600 nm and widths less than 5 nm, subjected to intentional misalignment of up to ±1  deg. After anisotropic etching, the auto-aligned structures exhibited as little as 1 nm of width variation, as measured by a critical dimension atomic force microscope, across 2 deg of variation in orientation. By contrast, the widths of control structures fabricated without auto-alignment showed 8 nm of variation. Use of the auto-alignment technique can eliminate the need for fiducial-based alignment methods in a variety of applications.

Polymer-assisted conformal coating of TiO2 thin films

Conformal coating of nanofabricated structures with a high-index dielectric material is a common problem for a diverse set of integrated photonic and plasmonic devices such as planar waveguides, on-chip spectrometers, gratings, flat panel displays, optical sensors, and integrated optical devices. In this paper we were recently able to demonstrate an alternate method for conformally coating photonic nanostructures using a low cost, polymer-assisted deposition (PAD) process for the metal-oxide TiO2. In a PAD process a thermally curable, hybrid high refractive index polymer solution is spin-coated onto a substrate. The polymer controls the viscosity and binds the metal ions, resulting in a homogeneous distribution of the precursor in solution. When cured at elevated temperature, the hybrid polymer coating decomposes to form a metal oxide-rich film that has a high refractive index that conformally fills the voids in nanofabricated structures. The resulting films have refractive indices higher than 1.83 in the...

Aspect-ratio driven evolution of high-order resonant modes and near-field distributions in localized surface phonon polariton nanostructures

Polar dielectrics have garnered much attention as an alternative to plasmonic metals in the mid- to long-wave infrared spectral regime due to their low optical losses. As such, nanoscale resonators composed of these materials demonstrate figures of merit beyond those achievable in plasmonic equivalents. However, until now, only low-order, phonon-mediated, localized polariton resonances, known as surface phonon polaritons (SPhPs), have been observed in polar dielectric optical resonators. In the present work, we investigate the excitation of 16 distinct high-order, multipolar, localized surface phonon polariton resonances that are optically excited in rectangular pillars etched into a semi-insulating silicon carbide substrate. By elongating a single pillar axis we are able to significantly modify the far- and near-field properties of localized SPhP resonances, opening the door to realizing narrow-band infrared sources with tailored radiation patterns. Such control of the near-field behavior of resonances can also impact surface enhanced infrared optical sensing, which is mediated by polarization selection rules, as well as the morphology and strength of resonator hot spots. Furthermore, through the careful choice of polar dielectric material, these results can also serve as the guiding principles for the generalized design of optical devices that operate from the mid- to far-infrared.

Cryogenic Etching of High Aspect Ratio 400-nm Pitch Silicon Gratings

The cryogenic process and the Bosch process are two widely used processes for reactive ion etching of high aspect ratio silicon structures. This paper focuses on the cryogenic deep etching of 400-nm pitch silicon gratings with various etching mask materials, including polymer, Cr, SiO2, and Cr-on-polymer. The undercut is found to be the key factor limiting the achievable aspect ratio for the direct hard masks of Cr and SiO2, while the etch selectivity responds to the limitation of the polymer mask. The Cr-on-polymer mask provides the same high selectivity as Cr and reduces the excessive undercut introduced by direct hard masks. By optimizing the etching parameters, we etched a 400-nm pitch grating to ≈10.6 μm depth, corresponding to an aspect ratio of ≈53.