MicroscopyInnovations 2011 Microscopy Today Innovation Awards
Microscopy Today congratulates the second annual
group of Innovation Award winners. Te ten innovations described below move several microscopy techniques forward: light microscopy, scanning probe microscopy, electron microscopy, and analytical microscopy. Tese innovations will make
imaging and analysis more
powerful, more flexible, more productive, and easier to accomplish.
nanoIRTM – AFM-Based IR Spectroscopy
Anasys Instruments University of Paris-Sud Dow Chemical Company
Developers: Kevin Kjoller, Craig Prater, Doug Gotthard, Anthony Kurtz, Alex Dazzi, Konstantin Vodopyanov, and Greg Meyers
Te nanoIRTM performs
nanoscale infrared (IR) spec- troscopy and IR microscopy using an atomic force micro- scope (AFM) probe at a spatial resolution under 100 nm. Tis is an improvement of up to two
orders of magnitude over conventional IR spectroscopy where spatial resolution is in the range 3–10 µm. Tis instrument provides the first nanoscale chemical composition information from AFM samples. At the heart of the nanoIRTM
technology based on photothermal-induced resonance (PTIR). Te nanoIRTM
in organic materials ever since its widespread adoption began with its key wartime role in the invention of artificial rubber in 1942. It is arguably the most practiced analytical measurement technique in industrial and academic R&D. However, even during decades of IR spectroscopy through light microscopes, diffraction has limited its practical spatial resolution to ~10 μm. Tis fundamental limitation kept IR spectroscopy from making the nanoIRTM
transition to nanoscale analysis. Te system now opens new applications for IR
spectroscopy at the sub-micron and nanoscale level in polymer science and life science research.
Multimodal Optical Nanoprobe
Brookhaven National Laboratory Nanofactory Instruments, AB
Developers: Yimei Zhu, Mirko Milas, Jonathan Rameau, Matthew Sfeir, Andrey Danilov, and Johan Angenete Te multimodal optical
nanoprobe (MON) is a trans- mission electron microscopy (TEM) sample stage that, in addition to sample manipulation inside the
platform is patent-pending system uses a pulsed, tunable IR source to excite
molecular absorption in a sample that has been mounted on a ZnSe prism. Te IR beam illuminates the sample by total internal reflection similar to conventional attenuated total reflectance (ATR) spectroscopy. As the sample absorbs radiation, it heats up, leading to rapid thermal expansion that excites resonant oscillations of the cantilever. Te induced oscillations decay in a characteristic ringdown. Te ringdown can be analyzed via Fourier techniques to extract the amplitudes and frequencies of the oscillations. Measuring the amplitude of the cantilever oscillation as a function of the source wavelength creates local absorption spectra; the oscillation frequencies of the ringdown are related to the mechanical stiffness of the sample. Te IR source can also be tuned to a single wavelength to map simultaneously the surface topography, mechanical properties, and IR absorption in selected absorption bands. Infrared spectroscopy has remained an important analytical measurement technique for chemical compositions
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TEM, allows the coupling of focused (laser) light onto a local area of the sample and collection of light from the area for spectroscopy. Tere is also a piezo-controlled tip for current- voltage (I-V) measurements, nanoindentation, and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) imaging. Te optical system, unique to TEM, uses two precision
light channels drilled from the air side of the sample holder to the sample area where small, adjustable mirrors steer light onto the sample from a free laser beam or a vacuum-flanged optical fiber connected to an external laser. Collection of light is accomplished through a second fiber. Coupling of free laser beams and fiber lasers is facilitated by an external photonics module on the air side of the MON. Additionally, to allow for safe, easy, flexible, and repeatable laser experiments in a TEM lab, a portable laser spectroscopy module may be used. Tis is built around a fiber-coupled supercontinuum laser and a series of enclosed optics to select the pulse rates, intensity, and spectral bandwidth of the laser. Because the system is built into the sample stage, it is compatible with any existing TEM.
Te MON is designed to enable the simultaneous probing,
characterization, and correlation of a sample’s physical properties—measurements that are commonly performed sep- arately. Important applications include study of the structure and properties of photovoltaic and LED (light-emitting-diode)
doi:10.1017/S1551929511000885
www.microscopy-today.com • 2011 September
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