IR near-field scanning optical microscopy (IR-NSOM) is a powerful spectroscopic tool because it allows subwavelength resolution in IR spectroscopy. Previously, IR-NSOM was realized by applying a solid immersion lens with a refractive index of n, which shortens wavelength (λ) to (λ/n), compared to FTIR-based IR microscopy. In 2004, an IR-SNOM achieved a spatial resolution ~λ/7 that is less than 1 μm. This resolution was further improved to about λ/60 that is 50–150 nm for a boron nitride thin film sample.
IR-NSOM uses an AFM to detect the absorption response of a material to the modulated infrared radiation from an FTIR spectrometer and therefore is also referred to as AFM/FTIR spectroscopy. Two approaches have been used to measure the response of polymer systems to infrared absorption. The first mode relies on the AFM contact mode, and the second mode of operation employs a scanning thermal microscopy probe (invented in 1986) to measure the polymer's temperature increase. In 2007, AFM was combined with infrared attenuated total reflection (IR-ATR) spectroscopy to study the dissolution process of urea in a cyclohexane/butanol solution with a high spatial resolution.