Atomic force microscopy-based infrared spectroscopy (AFM-IR, NanoIR) provides vibrational spectroscopic information with high spatial resolution (<30 nm). As a result, NanoIR is highly suited for the identification of organic components in size regimes that cannot be conventionally analyzed by other organic analysis techniques such as FTIR, which is typically limited to tens of microns in analytical area, and even Raman, which is limited to approximately one micron in analytical area.

In this example, two polymer structures were examined: 1) a cross section comprised of three polymers and 2) a thin polymer contaminant on a silicon wafer.