Si@Cu@Au AFM tips for tip-enhanced Raman spectrum

Tip-enhanced Raman spectrum (TERS) is a scanning probe technique for acquiring chemical information at high spatial resolution and with high chemical sensitivity. The sensitivity of TERS with atomic force microscopy (AFM) system is mainly determined by the metalized tips. Here, we report a fabrication protocol for AFM-TERS tips that incorporate a copper (Cu) primer film between a gold (Au) layer and a Si AFM tips. They were fabricated by coating the Si tip with a 2 nm Cu layer prior to adding a 20 nm Au layer. For top illumination TERS experiments, these tips exhibited superior TERS performance relative to that observed for tips coated with Au only. Samples included graphene, thiophenol and brilliant cresyl blue. The results may derive from the surface roughness of the tip apex and a Cu/Au synergism of local surface plasmon resonances.