Chemical imaging by scanning force microscopy

TLDR

Chemical imaging of surfaces with high lateral resolution, enabling chemical identification of surface materials, was recently demonstrated by Lieber et al. in *Science*. This work uses chemically modified SFM tips to confirm the technique’s power and highlight its application to technical surfaces that normally show little contrast in SFM.

Abstract

The chemical imaging of surfaces with high lateral resolution i.e. the chemical identification of the materials which make up the surface was recently reported by Lieber et al. in Science . Here, work carried out partially in parallel using chemically modified SFM tips (see Figure) confirms the power of the technique and emphasizes its use for technical surfaces which normally show little contrast in SFM. magnified image