Comparable Enhancement of TERS Signals from WSe

Plasmonic tip-sample junctions, at which the incident and scattered optical fields are localized and optimally enhanced, are often exploited to achieve ultrasensitive and highly spatially localized tip-enhanced Raman scattering (TERS). Recent work has demonstrated that the sensitivity and spatial resolution that are required to probe single molecules are attainable in such platforms. In this work, we observe and rationalize comparable TERS from few-layer WSe(2) single crystals exfoliated onto Au- and Cr-coated Si substrates, using a plasmonic TERS probe excited with a 638 nm laser. Our experimental observations are supported by finite-difference time-domain simulations that illustrate that the attainable field enhancement factors at the Au–Au and Au–Cr tip-sample junctions are comparable in magnitude. Through a combined experimental and theoretical analysis, we propose that besides Au/Ag, several metallic substrates may be used to record bright TERS spectral images.