This paper reports how atomic force microscopy (AFM) could be used to get detailed information about the morphology in heterophasic polypropylene samples. Part of the work is devoted to how the sample preparation for AFM bulk analysis could be performed to optimise the information that could be gathered from the samples. Cryomicrotomation together with routine operation modes in AFM, i.e. tapping mode and contact mode is shown to be a powerful tool to characterise the distribution of segregated phases as well as the structure in these phases. The quality of the morphology images obtained from a refined sample preparation and the amount of information that could be drawn from them is believed to be comparable to, or even better than that obtained from more elaborate scanning electron microscopy examinations on stained surfaces. The quality of the images allows for image processing which enables compositional analysis. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.