NSOM combined with FTIR/Raman techniques can provide local chemical information together with topographical details. This technique is non-destructive and can work in a variety of environments (liquids), for example, when detecting single biomolecules. The illuminated area of sample is relatively big at around 1 μm. However, the sampling area is only ~10 nm. This means that a strong background from an unclean tip contributes to the overall signal, hindering the signal analysis.
The Raman spectroscopy in general could be time-consuming due to the low scattering efficiency (<1 in 107 photons). It usually takes several minutes to accumulate a conventional Raman spectrum, and this time could be much longer in Raman-NSOM; for example, 9 hours for a 32×32-pixel image. As to near-field IR/AFM, high optical losses in aqueous environments (water is strongly absorbing in the IR range) reduces the signal-to-noise ratio.