Periodic and Statistically Distributed Surface Texturing of Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) Sensors with Spatially Selective Signal Mapping

Congratulations to Desislava Daskalova on the publication of her new scientific paper “Periodic and Statistically Distributed Surface Texturing of Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) Sensors with Spatially Selective Signal Mapping”, co‑authored with Mustafa Sercan Özyurt, Holger Lerch, Ulrich Plachetka, and Max Lemme. The publication addresses a central challenge in Surface‑Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS): producing reproducible and cost‑effective substrates at wafer scale.

The team presents two innovative fabrication approaches that set new benchmarks for SERS sensor performance. Using nanoimprint lithography (NIL), they create highly periodic nanostructures that offer exceptional signal uniformity. Complementing this, maskless reactive ion etching (RIE) enables the formation of statistically distributed silicon spikes with particularly strong signal enhancement. Both methods achieve performance comparable to—or even exceeding—that of commercial SERS substrates.

These results open new perspectives for multimodal sensing and real‑time detection of biomolecular signatures. Potential applications range from medical diagnostics and environmental monitoring to quality control in industrial processes.

Congratulations to Dessy and the entire team for this important contribution, which pushes the boundaries of modern molecular fingerprinting technologies.