Effect of Silicon Carbide on Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) Sensor: A Theoretical Approach

This study delivers a comprehensive computational analysis of a Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) sensor engineered in the Kretschmann configuration. The design integrates a calcium fluoride (CaF2) prism, a thin copper (Cu) film, a silicon carbide (SiC) layer, and an active sensing interface. Optical characterization was carried out via the Transfer Matrix Method (TMM) combined with angular interrogation at a 633 nm excitation wavelength. The optimized sensor exhibits an angular sensitivity of 194 deg./RIU, a detection accuracy of 1.38 deg−1, a quality factor of 269.44 RIU−1 and a limit of detection of 5.1 × 10−6 RIU over a refractive index window of 1.330–1.350. To assess analytical performance and selectivity, metrics such as detection accuracy, quality factor, figure of merit (FOM) and dip-based FOM (DOFOM) were evaluated. The results underscore the device’s significant potential for next-generation biomedical diagnostics and contribute valuable insights to materials science and plasmonic sensor technology.