ISSN 1063-7761, Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics, 2011, Vol. 113, No. 6, pp. 983–991. © Pleiades Publishing, Inc., 2011. Original Russian Text © A.G. Milekhin, N.A. Yeryukov, L.L. Sveshnikova, T.A. Duda, E.I. Zenkevich, S.S. Kosolobov, A.V. Latyshev, C. Himcinski, N.V. Surovtsev, S.V. Adichtchev, Zhe Chuan Feng, Chia Cheng Wu, Dong Sing Wuu, D.R.T. Zahn, 2011, published in Zhurnal Eksperimental’noi i Teoreticheskoi Fiziki, 2011, Vol. 140, No. 6, pp. 1125–1133. 983 1. INTRODUCTION It is known that the phenomenon of surface enhanced Raman scattering of light consists in abruptly (up to 10 6 times) increasing intensity of light scattering by molecules located either directly on the surfaces of metals or metal clusters or in the vicinity of these surfaces. Owing to the surface enhanced Raman scattering, significant advances have been achieved in research of optical and vibrational properties of organic and biological materials [1]. Surface enhanced Raman scattering has been successfully used for detecting and analyzing small amounts of organic sub- stances (5 × 10 –7 mol) [2, 3] down to molecular dimensions, including single molecules [4, 5]. Fur- thermore, considerable progress has been made in understanding the mechanisms responsible for surface enhanced Raman scattering [6]. Recent investigations have demonstrated that the surface enhanced Raman scattering has also been observed in inorganic materi- als, in particular, in GaN semiconductor nanorods [7], CdS quantum dots [8], carbon nanotubes [9], etc. Interest expressed by researchers in the ZnO com- pound is associated with the fact that this direct-band- gap semiconductor with a relatively large band gap (3.37 eV) exhibits an intense photoluminescence in the ultraviolet spectral range and can be considered as a promising material for the use in the design of the elemental base of nano- and optoelectronics, in par- ticular, sources and detectors of ultraviolet radiation [10]. A decrease in the dimensions of semiconductor materials, including ZnO, down to the nanometer scale leads to a significant modification of their optical and vibrational properties. In this case, the surface effects play an increased role due to the large ratio of Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering of Light by ZnO Nanostructures A. G. Milekhin a,b, *, N. A. Yeryukov a , L. L. Sveshnikova a , T. A. Duda a , E. I. Zenkevich c , S. S. Kosolobov a , A. V. Latyshev a,b , C. Himcinski d , N. V. Surovtsev e , S. V. Adichtchev e , Zhe Chuan Feng f , Chia Cheng Wu g , Dong Sing Wuu g , and D. R. T. Zahn h a Rzhanov Institute of Semiconductor Physics, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 13, Novosibirsk, 630090 Russia * e-mail: milekhin@thermo.isp.nsc.ru b Novosibirsk State University, ul. Pirogova 2, Novosibirsk, 630090 Russia c Belarussian National Technical University, pr. Nezavisimosti 65, Minsk, 220072 Belarus d Institut für Theoretische Physik, Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg, Gellert-Bau, Leipziger Str. 23, Freiberg, 09596 Germany e Institute of Automation and Electrometry, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, pr. Akademika Koptyuga 1, Novosibirsk, 630090 Russia f Graduate Institute of Photonics and Optoelectronics, National Taiwan University, 1 Roosevelt Rd. Sec. 4, Taipei, 106 Taiwan, R.O.C. g Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Chung Hsing University, 250 Kuo Kuang Road, Taichung 40227 Taiwan R.O.C. h Institute of Physics, Semiconductor Physics, Chemnitz University of Technology, Reichenhainer Str. 70, Neues Physikgebäude (NPhG), Raum P150, Chemnitz, 09107 Germany Received March 14, 2011 Abstract—Raman scattering (including nonresonant, resonant, and surface enhanced scattering) of light by optical and surface phonons of ZnO nanocrystals and nanorods has been investigated. It has been found that the nonresonant and resonant Raman scattering spectra of the nanostructures exhibit typical vibrational modes, E 2 (high) and A 1 (LO), respectively, which are allowed by the selection rules. The deposition of silver nanoclusters on the surface of nanostructures leads either to an abrupt increase in the intensity (by a factor of 10 3 ) of Raman scattering of light by surface optical phonons or to the appearance of new surface modes, which indicates the observation of the phenomenon of surface enhanced Raman light scattering. It has been demonstrated that the frequencies of surface optical phonon modes of the studied nanostructures are in good agreement with the theoretical values obtained from calculations performed within the effective dielectric function model. DOI: 10.1134/S1063776111140184 SOLIDS AND LIQUIDS