Source: US2011116089A A substrate primarily for SERS determination, the substrate has a number of elongate elements with a density of at least 1x108 elongate elements per cm2 and having metal coated tips. When the elements may be made to lean toward each other, such as by providing a drop of a liquid thereon and allowing the liquid to dry, groups of tips of elongate elements are formed and the Raman enhancement is extremely high.