Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 July 2013
Here, we present a method for the fabrication of silicon (Si) nanowires and Si nanowire-gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) heterostructures for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) effect. Branched Si nanowires were grown in atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process. Further decoration of these nanowires was achieved by a galvanic deposition of gold followed by annealing procedure. This resulted in Si nanowires-AuNPs heterostructures with controlled size and inter-particle spacing. Furthermore, the fabricated heterostructures were studied for Raman signal enhancement of the low concentration (∼10-6 M) dye (Rhodamine 6G, R6G). It was observed that heterostructuring of SiNWs with AuNPs led to improvement of R6G signals as compared to AuNPs dispersed on flat Si substrate.