Nano-FTIR Vs. Pif-IR: Comparing Nano‐IR Techniques
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Featuring PiFM & PiF-IR chemical analysis Released: May 28, 2021 Whitepaper Article Nano-FTIR vs. PiF-IR: Comparing Nano‐IR Techniques Background slightly better with a resolution 3 μm horizontally and a Ever since the invention of the atomic force microscope depth of 1.6 μm, but that is still too imprecise when the (AFM), researchers have sought to invent technologies goal is to look and nanoscale features. that would bring conventional chemical analysis tech‐ niqueslikeinfraredspectroscopytoamuchsmallerspatial Principle of Nano-FTIR volume. Currently, there are a few competing techniques Onemethodtoovercomethediffractionlimitandachieve which claim to offer these abilities. higher spatial resolution is to combine FTIR with tapping Given the popularity and utility of Fourier Transform mode (TM) atomic force microscopy (AFM) to realize Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, one natural option is to nano-FTIR. extend this technique to the nanoscale via nano-FTIR. Based on an apertureless near-field optical microscope However, while FTIR is a robust and user-friendly tech‐ design (also known as scattering scanning near-field opti‐ nique at larger scales, the nanoscale variation has some cal microscopy, or s-SNOM), nano-FTIR utilizes a modern key limitations that other techniques like photo-induced broadband (white-light) laser source instead of a fixed- force infrared (PiF-IR) spectroscopy have alleviated. wavelength laser as would normally be used in s-SNOM. The sample arm of the Michelson interferometer is FTIR replaced by the light scattering from the tip-sample inter‐ Conventional Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spec‐ faceoftheTMAFM. troscopy is a well-established analytical technique that In nano-FTIR, the tip is typically metal coated, and the acquirestheinfrared(IR)spectrumofabsorption(ortrans‐ excitation light polarized along the tip direction to exploit mission) of a solid, liquid or gas sample. It utilizes a thehighintensityoftip-enhancednear-fieldillumination. broadband light source that contains the full spectrum of The near-field signal is measured optically by collecting wavenumbers to be measured (this is sometimes called a the light scattered off the tip and using lock-in amplifiers white-light source). to suppress the far-field signals. A sample and a reference mirror form two arms of a Michelsoninterferometer.Asthemirrorismoved,thetwo Principle of PiF-IR beamsfromthesampleandthereferencearminterfereat Another method to measure nanoscale chemical signa‐ a photodetector, forming a detector signal versus mirror tures is via photo-induced force infrared (PiF-IR) position graph called an interferogram. A complex Fourier spectroscopy.InPiF-IR,awidelytunablenarrowbandlaser transform is performed on the interferogram to acquire isusedtoexcitethesampleunderanAFMtip. thereal(reflection)andimaginary(absorption)IRspectra. Unlike sSNOM or nano-FTIR techniques thesignal is Given the diffraction limit of conventional optics, FTIR collectedusingmechanicalforcedetection ratherthanthe islimitedtoaspatialresolutionof~5μm.ATRFTIRcando optical detection of scattered light. This means that when molecularvista.com [email protected] ApplicationNote:Nano-FTIRvs.PiF-IR:ComparingNano‐IRTechniques Released:May28,2021 comparing nano-FTIR to PiF-IR, there are a few inherent PiF-IR (in seconds) than with nano-FTIR (in tens of advantages in a PiF-IR system. Specific comparisons are minutes). discussed below. Selective Power Control Many nanoscale samples, especially organics and Comparison of nano-FTIR and PiF-IR biomolecules,canbeeasilydamagedmyhigh-poweredIR light. Therefore, careful power management of the excita‐ Spatial Resolution tion laser is crucial to any nanoscale analytical technique. The spatial resolution of nano-FTIR is reported to be WithPiF-IR,onsamplesthatcanbedamagedbyexcessive approximately equal to the tip radius, which typically is intensity and heating, an attenuator is used to reduce the around a few tens of nanometers for metal-coated tips. optical power to as little as 0.5% to 10% of the available This contrasts with PiF-IR where an even more confined QCLpower,whichisespeciallyimportantatwavenumbers near-field interaction provides a spatial resolution of ~ where the sample is highly absorptive. This power notch‐ 5nm for a similarly shaped tip. The relatively poor resolu‐ ing technology avoids sample damage while maintaining tion quoted for s-SNOM may not be a physical limitation high SNR and short acquisition time. ofthetechniquebutmaybeduetopoorerSNRbecauseof Unfortunately, because nano-FTIR uses a broadband thelowerpowerofthebroadbandlasersource(compared light source, this type of power control is impossible. to the sharply tuned laser source used for PiF-IR) and less Therefore,usablepowerlevelsareconstrainedbythepeak efficient near-field detection methodology. Nano-FTIR absorption of the sample to avoid damage. In many cases, suffers from the same low efficiency of light collection this means that to get sufficient SNR, multiple spectra inherenttos-SNOMduetothelimitednumericalaperture must be taken and averaged, further increasing the time of the collection optics and other factors. required to get meaningful data. Light Sources Fixed-wavenumber imaging Nano-FTIRsufferssomeinherentpowercontrolandsignal Fixed-wavenumber imaging is incredibly useful for strength disadvantages due to the broadband white-light mapping chemical variations on the surface of a nano- source used. As an example, one company offers nano- scale sample. Such images are often especially useful for FTIR utilizing a state-of-the-art broadband mid-IR source understanding complex heterogeneous samples, where which spans 670 to ~2000 cm−1 with an emission band‐ multiple fixed-wavenumber images taken at different width of about 400 cm−1. This laser source generates an frequencies highlight material components separately in average power level of 1mW integrated over the band‐ a visually intuitive display. With photo-induced force width. 1 IfanIRspectrumwith10cm−1 spectralresolutionis microscopy (PiFM), the QCL can be tuned to a wavenum‐ desired, roughly 25 μW (or less due to loss from optics) of ber of interest (usually corresponding to a known power is available at each point of the resolved spectrum. molecular transition), and then a full image can be made This pales when compared to as much as 5 mW of laser inamatterofminutes. power that is available for each ~1 cm−1 bandwidth with Since s-SNOM uses a broadband light source, it cannot the quantum cascade laser (QCL) utilized for PiF-IR .2 Per acquire fixed wavenumber images directly. Instead, such wavenumber, this means a QCL can generate three orders imageshavetobeapproximatedbytakingahyperspectral of magnitude higher power than the broadband laser data-set and then extracting the intensities from a used with nano-FTIR. Naturally this allows high SNR spec‐ narrow-band of wavenumbers. Unfortunately, this tra with high resolution to be taken far more quickly with approach is extremely time consuming, generating a full molecularvista.com Page 2 [email protected] ApplicationNote:Nano-FTIRvs.PiF-IR:ComparingNano‐IRTechniques Released:May28,2021 spectrum at each image pixel when only single wavenum‐ fluctuates slightly. This necessitates that an interferogram berinformationisneeded.Whiletakingafullspectrumat on gold be acquired periodically to normalize the each pixel can be very useful on complex heterogeneous response from the sample.4 For the most accurate and samples with many unknown chemical species, the ideal reliable normalization, the reference interferogram needs case is for the user to be able to select between single to be acquired in identical experimental conditions (tip, wavenumber imaging and full spectrum imaging as harmonic detection, substrate morphology, and other appropriate. PiFM provides both options – single factors).5 wavenumber imaging, and hyPIR spectra, which are WithPiF-IR,althoughthetunablelasermayalsohavea hyperspectral images that provide a full spectrum at each nonuniform power output as a function of wavenumber, a image pixel. reference spectrum is rarely needed. Instead, the power profile across the full spectral range can be made to be Far-field Background Suppression constantbyanactiveattenuator.Thismeansthatthereare Nano-FTIR collects scattered light from the tip to detect fewer opportunities for errors arising from improper thenear-fieldresponseofthesampleduetotheexcitation power normalization, and without the need for frequent light. While effective, this detection scheme comes with a reference spectra, data can be acquired much faster (in as few inherent problems that negatively impact signal little as 15 seconds for a fully normalized constant-power strength. Nano-FTIR relies on the fact that lock-in detec‐ spectrum or 100ms for a digitally normalized spectrum). tion of the interference signal at the tapping frequency Note: for some very thin samples (less than ~15 nm) will mostly reject the far-field background signal. differential measurements may be needed to remove However, the far-field light still contains some compo‐ substrate contributions. However, this is universally true nents modulated with the tapping frequency. For for all nanoscale molecular characterization. example,lightscatteringfromtheshankofthetip,orlight affected by the moving shadow of any part of the Thermal Stability cantilever or tip. Therefore, a higher harmonic of the Thermal drift can be a significant problem in s-SNOM- tapping frequency is usually utilized in an attempt