Highly effective and reproducible surface-enhanced Raman scattering substrates based on Ag pyramidal arrays

Close-packed Ag pyramidal arrays have been fabricated by using inverted pyramidal pits on Si as a template and used to generate plentiful and homogeneous surface-enhanced Raman scattering （SERS） hot sites. The sharp nanotip and the four edges of the Ag pyramid result in strong electromagnetic field enhancement with an average enhancement factor （EF） of 2.84 × 10^7. Moreover, the features of the close-packed Ag pyramidal array can be well controlled, which allows SERS substrates with good reproducibility to be obtained. The relative standard deviation （RSD） was lower than 8.78% both across a single substrate and different batches of substrates.