4. Conclusions
In this study, AgNMPA MEF substrate with high SBR was fabricated using a simple and low-cost UV-imprinting and GLAD process. To maximize the SNR of the substrate, GLAD nanorods were fabricated at various deposition angles (81°, 85°, and 89°), with substrate rotation speed of 5 rpm, deposition rate of 0.5 nm/s, and deposition thickness of 500 nm. SBR from the AgNMPA MEF substrate was measured and compared to that of glass slide substrate and GLAD MEF substrate. The AgNMPA MEF substrate, fabricated at the tilting angle of 89°, showed the best SNR; it actually increased with an increase in tilting angle from 81° to 89°. The fluorescence intensity enhancement of ~71× was achieved at the tilting angle of 89°, compared to that in the case of conventional glass slide substrate. The AgNMPA MEF substrate showed ~ 7× enhanced SBR over the GLAD MEF substrate and ~25x over glass substrate. Collectively, these results suggested that the proposed AgNMPA MEF substrate with high fluorescence signals and low background noise are a viable solution for future medical diagnostic applications.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea(NRF) grant funded by the Korean Government(MSIP) (No. 2015R1A5A1037668)