Scanned Probes Expertise  

Proximal probe microscopies such as scanning tunneling microscopy and atomic force microscopy are currently the tool of choice for nanoscience/nanotechnology research.  Proximal probes provide researchers with the ability to view sample surfaces on the atomic scale as well as the ability to manipulate the particles (atoms, molecules, clusters…) that comprise the system.  Stunning displays of the power of proximal probes as tools for fabrication and visualization on the nanometer scale have appeared on the covers of scientific journals and in the popular press.  Nevertheless robust analytical techniques capable of revealing the identity of the atomic and molecular building blocks remain elusive.  Thus one challenge that measurement scientists face is to provide tools that perform measurements on complex, heterogeneous, nanometer scale systems with the same exacting level of chemical detail that conventional spectroscopic techniques currently provide on macroscopic sample systems.  One strategy for realizing this goal involves coupling the high spatial resolution of near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM) with the chemical specificity of vibrational spectroscopy.  The combination of the sub-diffraction spatial resolution attainable in the near-field with the high chemical specificity of vibrational spectroscopy promised a powerful new analytical instrument that would overcome critical measurement limitations of both far-field vibrational microscopes (low spatial resolution) and scanned probe microscopes (lack of chemical specificity).  The ability to elucidate site-specific chemistry on the nanometer scale will continue to grow in importance and impact key applications in the fields of materials science, nanotechnology, molecular electronics, and high throughput experimentation.  

Near-Field Microscopy

• Chemical Imaging with Near-Field IR and Raman Microscopy
• Near-Field Microwave Spectroscopy

Atomic Force Microscopy

• Advanced Force Probe Studies of Organic Thin Films
• Surface Dynamics During Etching

Theoretical Basis for Tunneling Spectroscopy

• Nanotechnology in the NIST Electron Physics Group
• STM of Self-Assembled Monolayers
• Nanoscale Characterization of Surfaces, Interfaces, and Interphases in Polymeric Materials and Systems
• Nanometer-Scale Metrology
• Scanning Capacitance Microscopy
• Flourescence Near-Field Optical Microscopy