Scanning near-field infrared microscopy

Abstract

The main purpose of this final year project is to setup a Near-field Infrared Microscopy (SNIM) and to obtain a SNIM image with lateral resolution of 100nm. This is then reinforced by material characterization in term of nano scales with the use of infrared technology.

The approach is to first focus on the fundamental of Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) in order to measure and control the distance between the tip and sample. After which is the probe fabrication process whereby the heating and pulling technique is selected to fabricate the probe. Upon the complete fabrication of the probe, the Scanning Near-field Optical Microscopy (SNOM) was then setup to show the characteristic of visible light. The SNOM setup was then modified and changed to a SNIM setup.