A perspective on single molecule SERS: current status and future challenges

We present an overview of a some of the basic principles underlying current research in single-molecule surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SM-SERS). We summarize, by the same token, a series of conditions and characteristics that are common to most SM-SERS conditions, and discuss their implications for the understanding of data and for the comparison among different methods. We try to emphasize aspects of the problem that are not conventionally discussed in detail in the literature. In particular, we provide a full length discussion on the topics of: (i) the minimum SERS enhancement necessary to observe a single molecule, and (ii) the spatial distribution of the enhancement factor (EF) around hot-spots (which affects the statistics of SM-SERS events). A brief outlook into future perspectives of the different techniques used in SM-SERS and a few outstanding questions are also provided.