SBIR Phase I: Manufacture of Novel Polymer-based SERS Substrates using a hybrid Nanosphere-Nanoimprint Lithographic Fabrication Technique

这个小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目将专注于降低表面增强拉曼光谱(SERS)基板制造成本的挑战。SERS是一种强大的分析技术，由于商业底物的高成本，它在工业上没有被广泛采用。高质量的SERS衬底的衡量标准包括增强(由于衬底的存在导致拉曼信号的增加)、重复性(增强必须在衬底表面和衬底之间保持一致)和坚固性(衬底必须在给定的工作环境中经受住预期的滥用而不影响性能)。为了降低SERS基板的成本，本项目将推动开发一种新型的纳米球-纳米压印光刻制造SERS基板的方法。该项目的主要目标是(1)将每个设备的材料成本降低到当前价格的10%左右，同时(2)同时增加对传统基质的增强，(3)保持重复性和坚固性。该项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力在于增加基于SERS的高成本化学和生物检测系统的市场可用性。SERS是一种分析技术，可用于识别各种分析物和病原体的存在和浓度，包括葡萄糖、生物分子、细菌、生物和化学战剂以及爆炸物。该项目预计将降低成本，使SERS相关设备能够以“大约一颗子弹的成本”出售给美国的军事利益集团。具有成本效益的制造将促进SERS分析方法在许多科学领域的发展和采用，其影响甚至将延伸到上述应用之外，使该产品对许多科学和生物技术部门的最终用户具有吸引力。进入这一新兴能力领域的廉价途径也将使学院和大学的学生能够将SERS方法作为他们课程和研究的一部分。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will focus on the challenge of reducing the cost of manufacturing Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) substrates. SERS is a powerful analytical technique that is not widely adopted in industry due to the high cost of commercially available substrates. The metrics for quality SERS substrates include enhancement (the increase in Raman signal due to the presence of the substrate), reproducibility (the enhancement must be consistent across the surface of the substrate, and between substrates), and robustness (the substrate must withstand the expected abuse in a given working environment without compromising performance). In order to reduce the cost of SERS substrates, this project will foster the development of a new hybrid Nanosphere-Nanoimprint Lithography fabrication method for SERS substrates. The key objectives of this project are to (1) reduce the material cost per device to approximately 10% of the current price while (2) simultaneously increasing the enhancement over traditional substrates and (3) maintaining reproducibility and robustness.The broader impact/commercial potential of this project lies in increasing the market availability of cost-effective SERS-based chemical and biological detection systems. SERS is an analytical technique that can be used to identify the presence and concentration of a broad range of analytes and pathogens including glucose, biomolecules, bacteria, biological and chemical warfare agents, and explosives. The cost reduction expected from this project will enable SERS-related devices to be sold to US military interests at "approximately the cost of a bullet". Cost-efficient fabrication will promote the growth and adoption of the SERS analytical method across many scientific fields, and its effects will even stretch further than the above-mentioned applications, making the product attractive to end users in many science and biotechnology sectors. Inexpensive access to this emerging capability field will also enable students at colleges and universities to include SERS methods as a part of their coursework and research.