Optical metrology of randomly-distributed Au colloids on a multilayer film

Effect of clustering on ellipsometric spectra of randomly distributed gold nanoparticles on a substrate

We present a theoretical model for describing light scattering from randomly distributed Au nanoparticles on a substrate, including the clustering effect. By using the finite-element Green's function method and spherical harmonic basis functions, we are able to calculate the polarization-dependent reflectivity spectra of the system (modeled by randomly distributed nanoparticles coupled with clusters) efficiently and accurately. The calculated ellipsometric spectra of the system with clusters can adequately describe the experimental data for the whole frequency range. We find that the clustering effect leads to some prominent features in the low frequency range of the ellipsometric spectra, which are attributed to plasmonic resonances associated with the coupling of Au nanoparticles and clusters.

Ellipsometry study on gold-nanoparticle-coated gold thin film for biosensing application

The amplified plasmonic response from various distributions of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) coated on top of gold thin film was studied via ellipsometry under total internal reflection mode. The surface plasmon resonance dip can be tuned from the visible to near infrared by simply varying the AuNP concentration. Theoretical modeling based on effective medium theory with a multi-slice model has been employed to fit the experimental results. Additionally, this experimental tool has been further extended to study bio-molecular interactions with metal surfaces as well as in studying protein-protein interaction without any labeling. Hence, this technique could provide a non-destructive way of designing tunable label-free optical biosensors with very high sensitivity.