Optical Properties of Au, Ag, and Bimetallic Au on Ag Nanohole Arrays

A systematic study of the optical properties and analytical response is reported for gold and silver nanohole arrays with different hole diameters with a fixed periodicity of 450 nm. Nanosphere lithography in combination with oxygen plasma etching has been used to fabricate the nanohole arrays. The plasmonic response of nanohole arrays is characterized in transmission spectroscopy (lambda = 500-1000 nm spectral region), which varied with the metal composition and diameter of the nanoholes. The sensitivity to bulk refractive index (in nm/RIU) and the full width at half-maximum (FWHM) were measured for each plasmonic mode to compare the biosensing potential of the various nanohole arrays. A sensitivity of nearly 400 nm/RIU was observed and was maximal with the plasmonic band at lambda = 554 nm for Ag nanohole arrays with the smallest hole diameter of 120 nm. Generally, the ratio of the full height (transmission intensity) and FWHM is constant for various hole diameters with Au nanohole arrays, whereas it improves for Ag nanohole arrays with smaller hole diameters. Various bimetallic nanohole arrays composed of a Ag underlayer covered with Au were fabricated with a hole diameter of 254 +/- 20 nm and a depth of 50 +/- 12 nm. Sensitivity and FH/FWHM ratio are improved for Au on Ag nanohole arrays compared with nanohole arrays of pure metal.