Femtoliter silver cups as surface enhanced Raman scattering active containers

Femtoliter capacity Ag cups formed by the pulsed laser ablation of an Ag foil have been tried out as substrates for surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) measurements. The cups are formed as the impinging droplets from the laser plume undergo a flow pattern before freezing into cup-like structures, resulting in a surface roughness (similar to 35 nm) that makes them ideal for SERS studies. The internal volume of the cups is in the femtoliter (10(-15) 1) range, well suited for small-scale reactions, particularly in biological studies. The cups exhibit enhancement factors of the order of 106 with the analyte molecule thiophenol. Individual cups have been dosed attoliter quantities (10(-18) 1) of the analyte and detected.