Challenges of Commercializing SERS Substrates

Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) is an established method that has been around for more than 50 years. SERS, has a number of accolades such as single molecule detection, label free discrimination, and ease of use in the field. That being said, only a handful of companies have commercially available substrates that are accepted by the community.

In this talk, Singer discusses the challenges of commercializing SERS substrates such as wafer scale consistency, molecule class compatibility, and manufacturing/environmental contamination. Additionally, this presentation will explore advanced characterization techniques and how common SERS metrics, such as enhancement factors, should be taken with healthy skepticism.

About the presenter
Matt Singer is a physical optics engineer at Thorlabs Inc and has been working there since 2021. He obtained his bachelors and master’s in electrical engineering from the University at Buffalo SUNY in 2016 and 2017, respectively.

Singer then spent the next four years pursuing a doctorate in electrical engineering with a focus on nanophotonics, but decided to leave the program to pursue a career in industry. Currently, he focuses on the research and development of nanophotonic and plasmonic technologies to bridge the gap between academia and industry.