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. 2017 Aug 10;17(8):1846.
doi: 10.3390/s17081846.

Figure of Merit Enhancement of a Surface Plasmon Resonance Sensor Using a Low-Refractive-Index Porous Silica Film

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Figure of Merit Enhancement of a Surface Plasmon Resonance Sensor Using a Low-Refractive-Index Porous Silica Film

Qing-Qing Meng et al. Sensors (Basel). .

Abstract

In this paper; the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor with a porous silica film was studied. The effect of the thickness and porosity of the porous silica film on the performance of the sensor was analyzed. The results indicated that the figure of merit (FOM) of an SPR sensor can be enhanced by using a porous silica film with a low-refractive-index. Particularly; the FOM of an SPR sensor with 40 nm thick 90% porosity porous silica film; whose refractive index is 1.04 was improved by 311% when compared with that of a traditional SPR sensor. Furthermore; it was found that the decrease in the refractive index or the increase in the thickness of the low-refractive-index porous silica film can enlarge the FOM enhancement. It is believed that the proposed SPR sensor with a low-refractive-index porous silica film will be helpful for high-performance SPR sensors development.

Keywords: figure of merit; low-refractive-index; porous silica; surface plasmon resonance sensor.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic of the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor with a porous silica film.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Three-layer model of the proposed SPR sensor.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Refractive index as a function of the porosity of the porous silica film.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The angular spectra of the SPR sensors with 0 (traditional SPR sensor), 20, and 40 nm thick 20% porosity porous silica film (nps = 1.365).
Figure 5
Figure 5
The angular spectra of the SPR sensors with 0 (traditional SPR sensor), 20, and 40 nm thick 40% porosity porous silica film (nps = 1.270).
Figure 6
Figure 6
The angular spectra of the SPR sensors with 0 (traditional SPR sensor), 20, and 40 nm thick 60% porosity porous silica film (nps = 1.176).
Figure 7
Figure 7
(Color online) The angular spectra of the SPR sensors with 0 (traditional SPR sensor), 20, and 40 nm thick 80% porosity porous silica film (nps = 1.086).
Figure 8
Figure 8
(Color online) Electric field intensity enhancement factor inside the SPR sensors in Figure 7.
Figure 9
Figure 9
FOM versus the refractive index of porous silica film with various thicknesses.

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