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As more and more applications are developed at sub-micron scales, analytical techniques with nanometer spatial resolution are becoming increasingly important. Well-known examples are SEM, TEM and SPM (AFM, STM etc.). On the other hand, spectroscopy, including Raman, photoluminescence and infrared spectroscopy, can be used to study chemical structures. However, because of the diffraction limit (Abbe's limit), their spatial resolutions are only in the region of 1 micron for Raman and photoluminescence, and 10 microns for infrared. Thus, spectroscopy cannot meet the requirements for sub-micron analysis in fields like semiconductors, biology and quality control. But by using "near-field" optics, which we introduce below, vibrational spectroscopy can break through the barrier of the diffraction limit (See slide principle.ppt). We can then obtain chemical structure information at sub-wavelength spatial resolution.