What’s Derek Doing? Exploring the Bridge between Creativity and Science. (October 2023)

Creating uniform and repeatable monolayers is incredibly important for both scientific pursuits as well as the manufacturing of products in semiconductor, biotechnology, and. other industries. However, measuring monolayers and functionalized surfaces directly is. difficult, and many rely on a variety of characterization techniques that when used together can provide some degree of confidence. By combining non-contact atomic force microscopy (AFM) and IR spectroscopy, IR PiFM provides sensitive and accurate analysis of sub-monolayer of molecules without the concern of tip-sample cross contamination. Dr. Sung Park, Molecular Vista, joined Spectroscopy to provide insights on how IR PiFM can acquire IR signature of monolayer films due to its unique implementation.

Elena Hagemann, Product Manager for Process Spectroscopy at Metrohm USA, discusses a novel synchronized, automatic calibration data collector. This system eliminates the laborious calibration process of prediction model development without manual sampling. This capability allows moisture measurement systems to be calibrated at the factory down to approximately 7 ppm and to be installed in pipelines and reactors without additional calibration effort.

In this episode, Damon Strom from WITec’s marketing department, recounts how alphaCART, their portable, research-grade Raman system, joined the alpha300 line of production instruments. Listen to the podcast for a rare glimpse into the development process at Raman microscopy’s most innovative shop.

Bruker’s Surface Sensitive AFM-IR technology provides high-resolution surface sensitivity, reducing chemical probing depth to under 30 nanometers.

When it comes to high-purity inorganic raw materials, the key to analytical success is knowing how to define purity. A variety of factors can impact this definition, including the specific application as well as the chemist’s needs.