A batch fabrication process has been developed for making cantilever probes for scanning thermal microscopy (SThM) with spatial resolution in the sub-100 nm range. A heat transfer model was developed to optimize the thermal design of the probes. Low thermal conductivity silicon dioxide and silicon nitride were chosen for fabricating the probe tips and cantilevers, respectively, in order to minimize heat loss from the sample to the probe and to improve temperature measurement accuracy and spatial resolution. An etch process was developed for making silicon dioxide tips with tip radius as small as 20 nm. A thin film thermocouple junction was fabricated at the tip end with a junction height that could be controlled in the range of 100-600 nm. These thermal probes have been used extensively for thermal imaging of micro-and nano-electronic devices with a spatial resolution of 50 nm. This paper presents measurement results of the steady state and dynamic temperature responses of the thermal probes and examines the wear characteristics of the probes.[639]

High electrically conducting fluids such as liquid metals offer a unique solution to the current and future cooling needs of high power density heat sources. The two principal advantages of developing single phase cooling systems based on liquid metals lie in their superior thermophysical properties and in the ability to pump these liquids efficiently with silent, nonmoving pumps. Closed loop systems based on liquid metals and liquid metal pumps enable gravity independent high performance cooling systems. Analytical and experimental work is presented showing heat transfer coefficients on the order of 10W∕cm2∕K and miniature pumps operating at greater than 8kPa maximum pressure rise and 1% maximum efficiency.

This letter introduces the concept of a thermoelectromechanical cooler ͑TEMC͒, which modifies a traditional thermoelectric cooler ͑TEC͒ by using intermittent contact of a mechanical element synchronized with an applied pulsed current. Using Bi 2 Te 3 as the thermoelectric material, it is predicted that the maximum temperature drop across a TEMC operated under zero applied heat flux is about 35% higher than that of a TEC. This effectively increases the thermoelectric figure of merit for maximum temperature differential applications by a factor of 1.8.

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