1. II. Fabrication process
Observation of Plasmon Tunneling in Vertically stacked Graphene Spacer System
RPGR 2016
PT42_04_1030
Khang June Lee, Tae Keun Kim, Woonggi Hong, Sung Yoon Min, and Sung-Yool Choi
School of Electrical Engineering and Graphene Research Center, KAIST
ABSTRACT
The plasmon can undergo the quantum tunneling when the gap is smaller than 0.5 nm. Especially, the thickness of a single layer of graphene (SLG), 0.34 nm, is so thin that the quantum tunneling can occur directly through the film even without applying external bias. Such a tunneling phenomenon leads to the weakening of the plasmonic coupling. Here, we reveal the plasmon tunneling using Surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy in the well-defined graphene spacer system. As we expect, plasmon tunneling is observed only in the single layer graphene spacer, not in multilayer graphene spacer.
I. Introduction
III. Results & Analysis
The plasmonic coupling, the enhanced electromagnetic field occurring through a uniform and small separation between metallic particles, is required for better application to localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR). To achieve a high electromagnetic field near the noble metals, a nanoscale separation is required because the enhanced field is strongly inversely proportional to the metallic gap. For this reason, graphene have attracted as a good spacer candidate because of its precise controllability at sub-nanoscale.
Here, we experimentally and simulatively investigate the enhancement of plasmonic coupling through the vertical graphene spacer system. Graphene layer number is split by the repeated dry transfer process. Final structure makes plasmonic coupling through the graphene spacer (Figure 1). Graphene layer number control the thickness between the Au nanoparticles and the Au film. As layer number increase, enhanced field by plasmonic coupling become weaker and Raman signal also become smaller. Especially, in the case of single layer graphene spacer, the enhanced field do not follow the classical simulation which can be the evidence of plasmon tunneling.
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(a)
(b)
Au-NP
SLG stack
Image charge
Au film
Fig. 4.
(a) Simulation result of Au-NP on Au film
(b) Enhancement factor (EF) was strongly inverse proportional to spacer thickness
(c) Raman intensities in different spacer thickness (1~4 SLG layer)
(d) Comparison between experiment and simulation result
SiO2
Fig. 1.
Schematic illustration of graphene spacer system
Cross-section view of graphene spacer system and image charge of Au-NP
In Fig 4. (d), the experimental EF in single layer case is less than that of double layer spacer case, and appears to be inconsistent with simulation result (classical approach)
EF become weaker when the quantum tunneling occurs
Indicating plasmon tunneling is occurred in the SLG spacer case.
II. Fabrication process
(a)
(b)
(c)
(a)
(b)
Fig. 2
(a, b) Au nanoparticles (Au-NPs) deposition on graphene,
top view (a) and tilt view (b)
(c) Diameter distribution of Au-NPs, average diameter is 24.1 nm
Fabrication process
Raman spectroscopy with different concentration of BCB
Raman signals observed at 15 points randomly selected throughout the film.
Au film deposition (thermal evaporator)
Repeated Graphene dry transfer on Au film
Au nanoparticle deposition (thermal evaporator)
Annealing for spherical shape of Au-NPs
Test molecule (BCB) dropping
Raman signal detection
Fig. 5.
We can detect the BCB concentration as low as 10 nM, indicating that our structure is so sensitive.
Our graphene spacer system shows good homogeneity.
IV. Conclusion
In conclusion, we fabricated graphene spacer system which was sandwiched with Au film and Au nanoparticles. Unlike in the case of multilayer graphene (2~4 layer), the single layer graphene shows less enhancement factor than others and inconsistent with the simulation result (classical simulation). For this reason, we finally made a decision that the plasmon tunneling is prevalent in the case of single layer spacer.
Fig. 3
Schematic process of dry transfer of single layer graphene which was used in our experiment
Small, 11, 2, 175 (2015)
MNDL (Molecular & Nano Device Lab.), School of Engineering and Graphene Research Center, KAIST
291 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, , Korea
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