Photo-Induced Force Microscope (PiFM)

A new acquisition

Professor Mohamed Siaj of the Department of Chemistry at UQAM and the NanoQAM research center have just made available to the various academic and industrial players in the fields of nanotechnology a Photo-Induced Force microscope unique in Quebec. This microscope allows simultaneous topographic (AFM) and spectroscopic (PiFM) measurements.

Instrument properties

This photo-induced force microscope (PiFM) is an instrument which makes it possible to obtain topographic (resolution 40nm) and spectroscopic (IR between 770 and 1910 cm-1 with a resolution of 5nm) images. The PiFM technique uses a field, at the top of a tip, to locally induce a bias in the sample, which in turn produces an additional force acting on the tip. This photo-induced force can be extracted from the oscillation properties of the cantilever, and thus make it possible to obtain images of IR photo-induced forces.

Future uses

Anyone interested in using this PiFM instrument or interested in being trained on this instrument for autonomous use, must imperatively contact Mr. Maziar Jafari beforehand.