Micro-Curvature Effects on SERS Enhancement in Curved Substrates

Exploring the impact of micro-curvatures on SERS performance reveals untapped potential in optomechanical enhancement. We developed a flexible microbending structure, termed a "microbender," to systematically investigate how micro-curvature influences the SERS response. Raman measurements confirmed that bending boosts SERS intensity by increasing light scattering, guiding, and field localization. A curved array with 6 mu m radii, 0.8 mu m-diameter pillars, and 0.2 mu m spacing was shown to produce Raman signals equivalent to those of densely packed planar arrays fabricated at much higher resolution. These findings highlight that by applying micro-curvatures, we can achieve high SERS performance with low-resolution fabrication methods, offering a promising alternative to the current drive for ever-smaller, high-resolution planar SERS structures.