Nanosphere Lithography: Parallel Fabrication of Plasmonic Nanocone Sensing Arrays (Small 23/2013)

Ordered arrays of nanocones and nanopyramids are fabricated in a fully parallel approach by M. Fleischer and co-workers, as reported on page 3987. Single or double layers of self-assembled nanospheres are directly modified or used as templates for the creation of etch masks. Nanocones with sharp tips form when the masks are transferred into a gold or silver layer. Under optical excitation, narrowly confi ned hotspots are created near the cone tips. These structures have interesting properties for nano-optical applications and are evaluated as substrates for surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy using a thin film of pentacene molecules.