Dr. Kevin Grant

Manufacturing downtime hurts your bottom line - and any downtime caused by unintentional contamination during materials processing is especially painful. With regular adherence to impurity standards and cleanliness specifications it can be significantly reduced.

Presented here is a novel method of ultralow pressure micro ATR FTIR chemical imaging that removes the need for any structural support. This unique capability is made possible through the use of Agilent’s "Live ATR imaging" technique which provides enhanced chemical contrast, and enables the exact moment of contact between the sample and ATR crystal to be determined and provides a visual measure of the quality of contact.

Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) is a non-destructive analytical technique that helps identify and monitor the chemical makeup of almost any material. Using the Agilent Cary 620 chemical imaging system damage-free failure/defect analysis in electronics and semiconductor industries using micro ATR FTIR imaging can be performed.

Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) imaging is a well-established analytical method for obtaining spectral and spatial information simultaneously in the micron-size domain. The technique has been applied across many different application areas, from polymer science to biomedical imaging. Over recent years, interest has increased in pushing the diffraction limited spatial resolution performance of FTIR imaging systems, primarily using synchrotron based systems.

Mammals require dietary-based polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) such as docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and arachidonic acid (AA) for many biological processes, including normal functioning of the retina and brain. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) imaging with high spatial resolution is a suitable tool to investigate the PUFA distribution in tissue sections from animal models of disease, providing comprehensive information of the biochemical components on the subcellular scale.

Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) microscopic imaging uses a combination of an FTIR spectrometer with a microscope and Focal Plane Array (FPA) detector. The method has been recognized as a powerful and versatile imaging tool in many disciplines, ranging from biomedical research through to materials science, art conservation and forensics.