Sensors and Actuators B 160 (2011) 623–631

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Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/snb

Sensitivity enhancement of a surface plasmon resonance based biomolecules

sensor using graphene and silicon layers
Roli Verma a , Banshi D. Gupta a,∗ , Rajan Jha b
a
Physics Department, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi 110016, India
b
School of Basic Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar, 751013, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: A surface plasmon resonance based biomolecules sensor using silicon and graphene layers coated over
Received 1 May 2011 the base of the high index prism sputtered with gold has been analyzed. The graphene layer has been used
Received in revised form 2 August 2011 to enhance the adsorption of biomolecules while the addition of silicon layer between gold and graphene
Accepted 17 August 2011
increases the sensitivity. The thicknesses of gold and silicon layers along with the number of graphene
Available online 24 August 2011
layers have been optimized to achieve the best performance of the sensor in terms of sensitivity and
Full Width at Half Maximum (FWHM). To see the effect of wavelength of the light source, simulations
Keywords:
have been carried out for three different wavelengths. The best performance is obtained for 633 nm
Surface plasmon
Sensor
wavelength with optimized thicknesses of gold and silicon layers as 40 nm and 7 nm respectively while
Sensitivity the optimum number of graphene layers is 2. The sensitivity obtained with optimized parameters and
Graphene additional silicon layer, is more than twice the value reported in the literature.
Biomolecules © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction metal–dielectric interface resulting in the transfer of energy to the

SPW. At a particular angle of incidence, the intensity of the reflected
During the last two decades remarkable progress has been light from the prism base is found to be the minimum. This particu-
made in the development of biosensors for medical diagnostics [1], lar angle is called the resonance angle. At this angle the propagation
enzyme detection, food safety [2], drug diagnostics, etc. These sen- constants of evanescent wave and of surface plasmon wave become
sors utilize various techniques and methods for sensing. Surface equal. The resonance angle depends on the refractive index of the
plasmon resonance (SPR) is one of these techniques that have been dielectric medium in contact of the metal layer. In a conventional
used for sensing various chemical and biological parameters includ- SPR based sensor, a thin film of noble metal such as gold [7] or sil-
ing refractive index. Surface plasmons are basically the charge ver [8] is used. Out of these two, gold is preferred because of its low
density oscillations that propagate along the metal–dielectric inter- oxidation and high sensitivity.
face with electric field decaying exponentially in both the medium. Surface plasmon resonance based sensor can be used to detect
The surface plasmons are transverse magnetic (TM) polarized and biomolecules in a liquid sample. When the sample contain-
can be excited by p-polarized light when the propagation con- ing biomolecules comes in contact to the metal surface, the
stant of incident light wave along the interface becomes equal biomolecules get adsorbed on its surface and create a layer of refrac-
to the propagation constant of the surface plasmon wave (SPW) tive index higher than that of the sample (water) resulting in the
[3,4]. To excite surface plasmons, Kretschmann configuration along change in resonance angle. The overall performance of the sen-
with attenuated total reflection spectroscopy is used [5,6]. In sor depends on the adsorption of the biomolecules. Therefore, the
Kretschmann configuration, a thin film of a metal is coated on nature of the surface to which biomolecules get adsorbed plays
the base of a high index prism and a p-polarized light of par- an important role. The disadvantage with gold is that it is a poor
ticular wavelength impinges from one of the sides of the prism adsorbent of biomolecules, thereby limiting the sensitivity of the
at an angle greater than the critical angle of the prism–metal biosensor. Recently graphene has emerged as another option to
interface. The dielectric medium to be sensed is kept in contact improve the sensitivity of different types of biosensors. It has been
with the metal film. The incident light penetrates through the reported that the addition of graphene layer over gold improves
metal film evanescently and excites surface plasmon waves at the sensitivity of the biosensor [9]. Graphene, discovered recently,
is a single layer of graphite and one atom thick two dimensional
plane of sp2 bonded carbon atoms arranged in honeycomb lattice
∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 11 26591355; fax: +91 11 26581114. [10]. It possesses very fascinating optical, mechanical and electrical
E-mail address: [email protected] (B.D. Gupta). properties which have attracted many researchers and scientists all

0925-4005/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.snb.2011.08.039
624 R. Verma et al. / Sensors and Actuators B 160 (2011) 623–631

of the prism at an angle greater than the critical angle on the mul-
tilayer structure at the base of the prism. The reflected light is
collected through another face of the prism as shown in Fig. 1. When
the light is incident on an atomic monolayer of graphene it shows
high opacity [19]. A monolayer of graphene absorbs 2.3% of white
light and transmits 97.7% [20]. For L numbers of graphene layers,
the absorption is L × 2.3% of white light. Therefore it is obvious that
transmission decreases as the number of graphene layers increases.
The present SPR sensor is based on angular interrogation method.
In this method, the light source is considered as monochromatic
while the angle of incidence is varied to determine the angle at
which the intensity of the reflected light reaches minimum. The
dispersive behaviours of all the layers for a given wavelength of
the light source have been used for calculation and simulation.
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of a prism based SPR probe.

2.1. Refractive indices of various layers

over the world [11]. The properties include zero band gap [12,13],
high electron mobility, the same mobility for charge carriers (i.e.
In the present study simulations have been carried out for three
electrons and holes), the lowest resistivity of the order of 10−6 [14]
different wavelengths, 600 nm, 633 nm and 660 nm, of the light
and 2D structure. Due to these properties and relatively low cost,
source. For these three wavelengths of light source, the refrac-
graphene may be used in fabrication of excellent sensors. Further,
tive indices (n1 ) of the SF10 glass prism used are 1.7276, 1.7230
its surface to volume ratio is very high for exposing to its surround-
and 1.7205, respectively [21]. The refractive indices of gold (n2 )
ing and hence it is very efficient adsorbent of the biomolecules in
for these wavelengths are obtained from the experimental data of
comparison to gold. The graphene adsorbs biomolecules strongly
Palik [22]. The refractive indices of gold used are 0.22028 + i3.0412
with its carbon based atomic ring structure due to the stacking
for 600 nm, 0.1726 + i3.4218 for 633 nm, and 0.16422 + i3.6353 for
interaction between its hexagonal cells and the carbon-based ring
660 nm wavelengths. The refractive indices (n3 ) of silicon for three
structures widely present in bio molecules [15]. Another advantage
wavelengths used were determined from the following relation
of graphene is that a number of its layers can be coated on suitable
[16]:
surface in controlled manner. Moreover these layers are quite sta-
ble because the two layers of graphene are attached with Van der n3 = A + A1 e−/t1 + A2 e−/t2 (1)
Waal forces.
Recently, a layer of high refractive index dielectric material such where A = 3.44904, A1 = 2271.88813, A2 = 3.39538, t1 = 0.058304 and
as silicon over gold has been used to enhance the sensitivity of the t2 = 0.30384; is the wavelength in ␮m.
SPR sensor [16]. This occurs because silicon layer enhances the field The complex refractive index of graphene is given as [23]
intensity of the excitation light at the silicon–analyte interface [17]. C
In the present study, to enhance the sensitivity of the SPR sensor for n4 = 3 + i (2)
3
biomolecules, we have added another layer of high index dielectric,
where is the wavelength in ␮m and the constant C is equal to
silicon (Si), between gold (Au) and graphene layer. The simulation
5.446 ␮m−1 . A single layer of graphene has thickness (dg ) equal to
has been carried out for different thicknesses of gold and silicon
0.34 nm and hence for L number of layers its total thickness will
layers and number of graphene layers. The thicknesses of these
be d4 = L × 0.34 nm[23]. The refractive index of sensing medium is
layers and the number of graphene layers have been judiciously
considered as 1.33. After the adsorption of biomolecules on the
optimized to obtain the best performance of the sensor. To see the
graphene layer, the change in refractive index and the thickness
effect of wavelength, the simulations have also been carried out for
of the local sensing medium (biomolecules layer) [24] are denoted
different wavelengths of the light source. The sensitivity obtained
by nbm and d5 respectively.
with optimized thicknesses of gold and silicon and the number of
graphene layers is more than two times of that reported recently in
the literature [9]. In addition, the effects of refractive index and the 2.2. Reflection coefficient
thickness of the adsorbed layer of biomolecules on the sensitivity
of the sensor have been reported. The use of silicon layer may also We consider the planer waveguide approach and N-layer model
help in sensing of biomolecules efficiently because it increases the as shown in Fig. 2 to find the reflectivity of the incident p-polarized
mobility of electrons in graphene at the surface [18]. light [25]. In the present study, the number of layers is 6 (N = 6)
and all the layers are stacked along the z-direction. The arbitrary
medium layer is defined by thickness dk , dielectric constant εk , per-
2. Theory
meability k , and refractive index nk . The tangential field at the first
boundary Z = Z1 = 0 and the last boundary Z = ZN–1 are related as
For simulation, we consider a high index prism coated with thin
film of gold on its base. The base is further coated with silicon and

U1 UN−1
then graphene. The sensing medium, containing biomolecules to =M (3)
V1 VN−1
be detected, is placed in contact to graphene layer. As mentioned
above, graphene is a good adsorbent of biomolecules and hence where U1 and V1 are the components of electric and magnetic fields
biomolecules get adsorbed at the graphene surface, resulting in an respectively at the boundary of the first layer of structure, UN−1
additional layer of slightly higher refractive index than the sens- and VN−1 are the fields at the boundary of Nth layer and M is the
ing medium. In all, the system consists of six layers namely, prism, characteristic matrix of this structure which is given by
gold, silicon, graphene, biomolecules and the analyte that contains
biomolecules, as shown in Fig. 1. In addition to these, there can
N−1

be more than one graphene layer. To excite surface plasmons, p- M= Mk (4)

polarized monochromatic light is incident through one of the faces k=2
R. Verma et al. / Sensors and Actuators B 160 (2011) 623–631 625

the thicknesses of gold (d2 ) and silicon (d3 ) layers and the num-
ber of graphene layers (L) for three different wavelengths (600 nm,
633 nm and 660 nm) of the light source [26]. To optimize, we first
determine the reflectivity as a function of resonance angle using Eq.
(6) and then plot SPR curve to determine the minimum reflectivity
(Rmin ) and the resonance angle ( res ) for a given set of parameters
and the refractive index of the biomolecules layer. We then plot
Rmin and the change in resonance angle for a given change in the
refractive index of the biomolecules layer as a function of number
of graphene layers for different sets of values of gold and silicon
thicknesses for a given wavelength of the light source. For the opti-
mum thicknesses of these layers we focus on the minimum width
of the SPR curve, lowest value of the minimum reflectivity and the
maximum change in the resonance angle.
In the angular interrogation method, the reflectivity, as output
signal, is measured as a function of incident angle and a dip in SPR
curve is obtained at the resonance angle ( res ). The energy conser-
vation requires that the sum of the absorbance (A), transmittance
(T) and the reflectance (R) should be equal to 1. At attenuated total
reflection (ATR) condition, T = 0, and hence A + R = 1. At resonance
angle, ideally reflectance R is also zero (R = 0) which implies A = 1. It
means that the total energy of the incident light is absorbed in the
medium and the sharpest SPR curve is obtained. This occurs when
Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of an N-layer model. the light beam incident on the prism traverses through metal layer
as surface plasmons are generated at the interface which radiates
where light back into the metal film. If the thickness of the metal layer
is small, the backscattered field increases and since backscattered
cos ˇk −i sin ˇk /qk wave is out of phase with incident light wave, these two waves
Mk =
−iqk sin ˇk cos ˇk interfere destructively. Due to this the reflectance reduces to mini-
1/2 mum and for the optimum thicknesses of layers these compensate
qk = (εk − n2 sin2 )
1/2 each other and the reflectance becomes zero or the total absorption
ˇk = dk (2/)(εk − n2 sin2 ) occurs [27]. However, the reflectivity also depends on the wave-
length of the incident light in addition to angle of incidence and
is the angle of incidence of light with the normal to the inter-
the thicknesses of the various layers.
face. The amplitude reflection coefficient (rp ) for p-polarized light
As mentioned earlier, in the present sensor, the prism base is
is
coated with gold, silicon and graphene sequentially and hence it
(M11 + M12 qN )q1 − (M21 + M22 qN ) has three layers over the prism base. When a sensing sample con-
rp = (5)
(M11 + M12 qN )q1 + (M21 + M22 qN ) sisting of biomolecules comes in contact to graphene layer, the
biomolecules from sensing sample get adsorbed on the graphene
The reflection coefficient of N layer model for p-polarized light
layer resulting in the formation of a fourth layer of biomolecules
is
2 with refractive index ns + nbm ; ns is the refractive index of the
R = rp (6) sensing medium or the sample. To optimize parameters, simula-
tions have been carried out for different numbers of graphene layers
To know the resonance angle, reflection coefficient R is plotted for given thicknesses of gold and silicon layers. Figs. 3(a)–(c) show
as a function of incident angle . The angle corresponding to min- the variations of Rmin with number of graphene layers (L) for differ-
imum reflection coefficient (Rmin ), called resonance angle ( res ), is ent thicknesses of gold layer assuming no silicon layer for 600 nm,
determined from the plot. The resonance angle changes with the 633 nm and 660 nm wavelengths respectively. It may be noted that
change in the refractive index of the sensing medium. Larger the the complete transfer of energy of the incident light to surface plas-
change better is the performance. If the change in resonance angle mons (R = 0) for a given thickness of gold layer depends on the value
is res corresponding to the change in refractive index n, then of L. As the thickness of the gold layer decreases the number of
the sensitivity of the sensor is defined as graphene layers required to transfer complete energy increases.
For a given thickness of the gold layer, the number of graphene lay-
res
S= (7) ers required for the complete transfer of energy further depends on
n the wavelength of the light source. As the wavelength of the light
source increases the dip in the reflectivity curve corresponding to
3. Results and discussion a fixed thickness of the gold film shifts towards the higher number
of graphene layers. In the wavelength range studied, no graphene
There are number of design parameters of the sensor that may layer for minimum reflectivity is required for 50 nm thickness of
affect the performance of the sensor considered in the present gold film, a fact reported in the literature for 50 nm as the opti-
study. Some of the critical parameters are thicknesses and refrac- mized thickness for gold film. The decrease in the thickness of the
tive indices of different layers such as gold, silicon, graphene and gold layer is compensated by the addition of graphene layers for
biomolecules in addition to the wavelength of the light source. achieving complete transfer of energy to surface plasmons. Fur-
For the biomolecules layer we have chosen nbm = 0.005 and thermore, the increase in the total graphene layers thickness is
d5 = 100 nm. The values of refractive indices of different layers and lesser than the decrease in the gold film thickness which may be
the thickness of a single layer of graphene have been discussed due to the higher refractive index of the graphene in comparison
in Section 2.1. Using these values, we carried out optimization of to gold.
626 R. Verma et al. / Sensors and Actuators B 160 (2011) 623–631

Fig. 4. Variation of change in resonance angle due to the adsorption of biomolecules

Fig. 3. Variation of minimum reflectivity in SPR curve with different layers of
with different layers of graphene for various thicknesses of gold and no layer of sili-
graphene for various thicknesses of gold and no layer of silicon for wavelengths (a)
con for wavelengths (a) 600 nm, (b) 633 nm and (c) 660 nm. The symbols correspond
600 nm, (b) 633 nm and (c) 660 nm. The symbols correspond to the values obtained
to the values obtained from the simulated results while the continuous lines are the
from the simulated results while the continuous lines are the best fit curves through
best fit curves through these symbols.
these symbols.

To check the performance of the sensor, we determine the the thickness of the gold film. In addition, the change in resonance
change in resonance angle ( res ) obtained before and after the angle decreases for fixed values of the thickness of gold film and the
adsorption of biomolecules present in the sensing medium (water) number of graphene layer as the wavelength increases. However,
over the graphene layer. Figs. 4(a)–(c) show the variations of change in all these observations, we have not considered complete transfer
in resonance angle as a function of number of graphene layers for of energy to surface plasmons that is required for the optimization
different thicknesses of gold film and no silicon layer for 600 nm, of film thickness, number of graphene layers and the wavelength
633 nm and 660 nm wavelengths respectively. It is observed that of the light source for best performance.
the change in resonance angle increases with the increase in the The simulations, similar to the above, have also been carried
number of graphene layers. Further, for a fixed number of graphene out for different thicknesses of the silicon layer for the same three
layers, the change in resonance angle increases with the increase in wavelengths. Fig. 5 shows the variation of Rmin with the number
R. Verma et al. / Sensors and Actuators B 160 (2011) 623–631 627

Fig. 6. Same as Fig. 4 except that in this case the thickness of the silicon layer is
5 nm.
Fig. 5. Same as Fig. 3 except that in this case the thickness of the silicon layer is
5 nm.
maximum change in resonance angle towards the higher number
of graphene layers and also results in the decrease in its value. In
of graphene layers (L) for diffrent thicknesses of gold layer and Figs. 7 and 8 we have plotted results similar to Figs. 5 and 6 but for
5 nm thickness of silicon layer. Comparison of results in Fig. 5 with 7 nm thickness of the silicon layer. The interpretation of the results
those in Fig. 3 implies that the addition of silicon layer decreases the is the same as for 5 nm thickness of the silicon layer except that the
number of graphene layers required for zero reflectivity for a given peak corresponding to maximum change in resonance angle shifts
thickness of the gold layer. The correponding plots for the change in towards the lower number of graphene layers.
resonanace angle ( res ) for three wavelengths have been shown The required number of graphene layers for the complete trans-
in Fig. 6. The trends of the plots are different from those obtained fer of energy to surface plasmons under the resonance condition,
without the silicon layer. It is found that res first increases up to R < 0.03, and the corresponding change in resonance angle for each
a certain value and then starts decreasing with the increase in the case are given in Tables 1–3 for wavelengths 600 nm, 633 nm and
number of graphene layers for all the thicknesses of the gold layer. 660 nm respectively. It may be noted that the data presented in
Further, the increase in the wavelength of the light source shifts the these tables correspond to nearly zero reflectivity only and hence
628 R. Verma et al. / Sensors and Actuators B 160 (2011) 623–631

Fig. 7. Same as Fig. 3 except that in this case the thickness of the silicon layer is Fig. 8. Same as Fig. 4 except that in this case the thickness of the silicon layer is
7 nm. 7 nm.

Table 1
Optimized values of thicknesses of gold and silicon and the number of graphene layers with corresponding change in resonance angle and FWHM for zero reflectivity in SPR
curves for 600 nm wavelength.

Gold thickness Silicon Number of Resonance angle without Resonance angle with Change in resonance FWHM
(nm) thickness (nm) graphene biomolecules (degree) biomolecules (degree) angle (degree) (degree)
layers

40 0 4 60.173 60.507 0.334 10.511

35 0 9 62.038 62.396 0.358 16.154
30 0 15 64.485 64.856 0.371 21.646
35 5 4 75.743 76.303 0.56 20.310
30 5 8 76.704 77.150 0.446 21.49
R. Verma et al. / Sensors and Actuators B 160 (2011) 623–631 629

Table 2
Optimized values of thicknesses of gold and silicon and the number of graphene layers with corresponding change in resonance angle and FWHM for zero reflectivity in SPR
curves for 633 nm wavelength.

Gold thickness Silicon Number of Resonance angle without Resonance angle with Change in resonance FWHM
(nm) thickness (nm) graphene layers biomolecules (degree) biomolecules (degree) angle (degree) (degree)

50 0 0 56.996 57.256 0.260 3.231

40 0 6 58.622 58.913 0.291 8.052
35 0 10 59.889 60.197 0.308 12.767
50 5 0 66.139 66.636 0.497 9.090
40 5 4 68.254 68.754 0.500 16.371
35 5 8 70.369 70.858 0.489 20.752
30 5 13 72.624 73.064 0.440 23.730
40 7 2 75.413 76.086 0.673 17.975
35 7 5 76.545 77.119 0.574 19.278
30 7 9 77.544 77.997 0.453 20.536

Table 3
Optimized values of thicknesses of gold and silicon and the number of graphene layers with corresponding change in resonance angle and FWHM for zero reflectivity in SPR
curves for 660 nm wavelength.

Gold thickness Silicon Number of Resonance angle without Resonance angle with Change in resonance FWHM
(nm) thickness (nm) graphene layers biomolecules (degree) biomolecules (degree) angle (degree) (degree)

50 0 0 56.284 56.519 0.235 2.567

40 0 6 57.704 57.966 0.262 6.648
35 0 11 59.099 59.384 0.285 11.675
40 5 5 65.364 65.788 0.424 24.395
35 5 9 67.307 67.737 0.43 19.392
30 5 15 70.142 70.555 0.413 23.537
40 7 4 70.919 71.463 0.544 17.418
35 7 8 72.993 73.502 0.509 21.119
30 7 13 74.964 75.392 0.428 22.430

only those combinations of thicknesses and number of graphene distance in the direction perpendicular to the prism base may be
layers are tabulated. In all the tables we have also tabulated depicted as shown in Fig. 9.
FWHM of SPR curves. The maximum change in resonance angles In the above simulations we have considered nbm = 0.005
obtained are 0.56◦ , 0.673◦ and 0.544◦ for 600 nm, 633 nm and and d4 = 100 nm irrespective of the number of graphene layers. If
660 nm wavelengths, respectively. The corresponding FWHM are the change in the local refractive index due to the adsorption of
20.310◦ , 17.975◦ and 17.418◦ ; the last two are nearly the same. biomolecules on graphene layer increases, then the change in res-
These results imply that the combination of 40 nm gold and 7 nm onance angle ( res ) also increases as shown in Fig. 10. This will
silicon layer thicknesses with optimized number of graphene lay- further increase the change in resonance angle and hence the sen-
ers as 2 and 633 nm as the wavelength of the light source is the sitivity of the sensor. Rather than this consideration, if we suppose,
optimum to achieve the best performance of the sensor. We have that the thickness of the biomolecules layer is more than what we
also carried out simulations for higher thicknesses of silicon layer have considered (100 nm thickness of the biomolecules layer), then
but for higher thicknesses the SPR curves become broad and fur- more change in the thickness of the biomolecules layer increases
ther, in none of the cases, complete transfer of energy takes place. the change in the resonance angle and hence the sensitivity of the
From the tabulated values it can be noted that the change in res- sensor as shown in Fig. 11. Thus, any increase in the thickness of
onance angle is lowest when the sensor has only gold layer (no the biomolecules layer will increase the change in the resonance
silicon and no graphene layer). If graphene layers are coated over angle and hence the sensitivity of the sensor.
gold (no silicon layer) then it marginally increases the change in res-
onance angle. If silicon layer is coated over gold layer (no graphene
layer) then the change in resonance angle becomes twice of that
of the gold layer only. Moreover, the addition of graphene layer
over silicon further increases the change in resonance angle. The
change in resonance angle is more than twice of that reported in
the literature [9]. According to these simulations the optimum val-
ues of the parameters for sensitivity and FWHM for biomolecules
SPR sensor are the following: gold layer thickness = 40 nm, sili-
con layer thickness = 7 nm, the number of graphene layers = 2 and
= 633 nm.
It may be noted that the addition of silicon layer enhances the
maximum value of the change in resonance angle for a particu-
lar number of graphene layers. The reason of enhancement of the
change in resonance angle or the sensitivity is the high refractive
index of the silicon layer which increases the field intensity at the
interface and hence the field penetrates strongly in the analyte
[17,28]. Based on the studies reported in the literature on the addi- Fig. 9. Schematic diagram of the field intensity along the direction perpendicular
tion of silicon layer, the schematic of the field intensity with the to the prism base.
630 R. Verma et al. / Sensors and Actuators B 160 (2011) 623–631

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Biographies
latest fabrication and characterization techniques to design a highly
sensitive and accurate biosensor.
Roli Verma received her M.Sc. degree in Physics (2006) and B.Ed. (2007) from C.S.J.M.
University Kanpur (India). Since January 2010, Ms. Verma is a full time Ph.D. student
Acknowledgements at the Physics Department, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. Ms. Verma is a
student member of Optical Society of America and holds the position of treasurer of
IIT Delhi student chapter of OSA.
The present work is partially supported by the Department of
Science and Technology (DST), India. Roli Verma is thankful to B.D. Gupta received his M.Sc. degree in Physics (1975) from Aligarh Muslim Uni-
versity (India) and a Ph.D. degree in Physics (1979) from the Indian Institute of
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India for pro- Technology, New Delhi. In 1978 he joined the Indian Institute of Technology, New
viding research fellowship. Delhi, where he is currently a Professor in Physics. In addition, Prof. Gupta has
R. Verma et al. / Sensors and Actuators B 160 (2011) 623–631 631

worked at the University of Guelph (Canada) in 1982–1983, the University of Toronto of America and life member of the Optical Society of India and the Indian Chapter
(Canada) in 1985, the Florida State University (USA) in 1988, the University of Strath- of ICTP.
clyde (UK) in 1993 and the University of Birmingham (UK) in 2010. In 1992, he was
awarded the ICTP Associateship by the International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Rajan Jha received his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from Indian Institute of Technology
Trieste (Italy), which he held for 8 consecutive years. In this capacity, he visited ICTP Delhi, India in 2001 and 2007, respectively. From early 2008 to July 2009, he was
(Italy) in 1994 and 1996. Prof. Gupta is a recipient of the 1991 Gowri Memorial Award a post doctoral researcher at ICFO – The Institute of Photonics Sciences, Barcelona,
of the Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers (India). He has Spain. He was awarded JSPS (Japanese Society for Promotion of Science) fellowship
published more than 80 research papers including 5 review articles in International in 2009. He is currently working as Assistant Professor in Physics in School of Basic
Journal of Repute. Prof. Gupta authored a book entitled Fiber Optic Sensors: Princi- Sciences at Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar, India. He is a regular mem-
ples and Applications (NIPA New Delhi, 2006) and is the co-editor of the Proceedings ber of Optical Society of America (OSA) and is a life member of Optical Society of India
of SPIE (USA), vol. 3666 (1998) and Advances in Contemporary Physics and Energy (OSI). His areas of research are optical sensors, nano- & bio-photonics, spectroscopy
(supplement volume) (Allied Publishers, New Delhi). His current areas of interest and imaging, solar cell, waveguide & interferometer. He has published more than
are plasmonics and fiber optic sensors. He is a regular member of the Optical Society 20 research articles including a review article in International Journal of Repute.