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Improvement of Figure of Merit for Gold Nanobar Array Plasmonic Sensors

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Abstract

We report a strategy to improve two types of the figure of merit (FOM and FOM*) of the refractive index sensitivity of a gold nanobar array localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) biosensor by simply placing it close to a thin gold film with a dielectric spacer. The thickness of the dielectric spacer determines the plasmon coupling strength between the gold nanobars and the gold film and consequently the FOM and FOM* of the biosensor. From our calculations, when the spacer thickness is 20 nm, the FOM and FOM* reach maximal (4.68 and 310, respectively) and the sensitivity remains at a high value of 600 nm per refractive index unit. This biosensor scheme is practically realizable, and this strategy is also potentially applicable to the LSPR biosensors with other geometries.

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Acknowledgments

Jian Ye and Pol Van Dorpe acknowledge financial support from the F.W.O. of Flanders.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. IMEC vzw, Kapeldreef 75, Leuven, 3001, Belgium

    Jian Ye & Pol Van Dorpe

  2. Chemistry Department, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200 F, Leuven, 3001, Belgium

    Jian Ye

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  1. Jian Ye
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  2. Pol Van Dorpe
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Correspondence to Jian Ye.

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Ye, J., Van Dorpe, P. Improvement of Figure of Merit for Gold Nanobar Array Plasmonic Sensors. Plasmonics 6, 665–671 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11468-011-9249-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11468-011-9249-9

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