Renishaw’s inVia Confocal Raman Microscope Connects to Bruker’s Dimension Icon AFM

Renishaw is an experienced supplier of integrated Raman-AFM solutions, having offered them for over 16 years. The latest addition to the range of instruments it supports is Bruker’s Dimension Icon AFM. This additional pairing demonstrates the extreme flexibility of the Renishaw inVia confocal microscope, and its ability to interface to a wide range of instruments employing many analytical techniques.

inVia-Icon is a fully integrated Raman-AFM system. It has a comprehensive range of features, making it the highest performing, yet easy-to-use, system for co-localized Raman-AFM measurements. It supports a full range of AFM techniques and µ-Raman capabilities, and can characterize the properties of materials at sub-micrometre and nanometre scales.

The Dimension Icon provides users with uncompromised performance, robustness, and the flexibility to perform nearly every AFM measurement type, at resolutions previously only obtained by extensively customized systems. The inVia microscope complements this by producing both rich, detailed, chemical images and highly specific Raman data from discrete points. Users can make both Raman and AFM measurements without moving their samples between instruments and without compromising performance. In addition, if necessary, both instruments can be used independently.

The inVia-Icon combination has a flexible arm linking the two instruments; this couples light between the two with mirrors, providing a higher efficiency than fiber optic coupling. This ensures users can acquire high quality data in the minimum time, with market-leading signal-to-noise levels.

The flexible coupling arm employs Renishaw’s StreamLineHR™ high resolution mapping technology. It can Raman map areas up to 500 µm × 500 µm, with position encoders ensuring 100 nm repeatability. Bruker’s proprietary PeakForce QNM complements StreamLineHR by providing even higher resolution nano-mechanical information.

“Renishaw’s patented sampling arm allows the sample to be measured while it is still mounted on the AFM; making correlated measurements with both systems is easy,” said Tim Batten, Renishaw Applications Scientist. He added, “The arm does not contact the AFM and, as such, does not affect its performance.”

Adding inVia’s powerful chemical imaging capabilities to the Bruker Dimension Icon sets a new standard, delivering high-performance surface characterization with both efficiency and ease.