Anasys Instruments Corp. — Department of Energy SBIR Phase II: 14b

Description

Infrared spectroscopy is the most widely used technique for chemical characterization with a worldwide market of over $1B annually, but has fundamental spatial resolution limits at the scale of many microns. Anasys pioneered the field of Atomic Force Microscope based infrared spectroscopy (AFM-IR) which recently broke this spatial resolution limit using the tip of an AFM to detect IR absorption with spatial resolution >100X better than conventional IR instruments. The research and development efforts that have occurred during the Phase I and Phase II projects have demonstrated the capability of a new technique called Resonant Enhanced AFM-IR with sensitivity more than 100X better than current commercial AFM-IR capabilities, allowing chemical analysis down to the monolayer level. In addition, we have demonstrated the ability to perform Resonance Enhanced AFM-IR measurements in liquid opening a range of new applications. Unfortunately the Resonance Enhanced AFM-IR technique has two key limitations which this proposal seeks to solve: 1) Operation in liquid is still not of sufficient sensitivity for many research applications 2) The Resonance Enhanced AFM-IR measurement is not fast enough for substantial commercial adoption. Proposal Approach: We will use a combination of new cantilever designs; new detection techniques and algorithmic and electronics improvements to achieve our goals. Our sub-contractor in this proposal is our longtime collaborator Prof Mikhail Belkin of UT-Austin who is a co-inventor with Anasys of the Resonance Enhanced AFM-IR approach and an expert in the field. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits: It will enable the AFM-IR technique to penetrate the large and important Life Sciences field where it is required that samples are hydrated. The speed improvements will make it a powerful new analytical technique that will be adopted much more widely and will accelerate R&D in diverse fields including polymers, energy, photonics, life sciences, pharmaceuticals and others.