Effects of sample topography and thermal features in scanning thermal conductivity microscopy

Temperature mapping of operating nanoscale devices by scanning probe thermometry

“…To address the lack of versatile, high-resolution thermometry techniques, scanning probe-based methods have been explored 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 . Thermal scanning probe measurements, however, typically suffer from contact-related artefacts 13 14 29 30 that restrict their applicability for nanoscale thermometry.…”

“…Unlike macroscopic contact thermometers, they typically not infer temperature by measuring only one physical property, for example, the electrical resistance, of a calibrated sensor in equilibrium with the system of interest. Instead, they detect a heat-flux-related signal across a tip–sample contact that is not only proportional to the temperature difference between a probe sensor ( T sensor ) and a sample ( T sample ), but also influenced by an unknown thermal contact resistance ( R ts ( T )) 29 30 . The well-established concept of equilibrium contact thermometry cannot be easily adapted to the nanoscale, as it would require R ts to be small compared with the resistance between the sensor and its thermal reservoir ( R cl ), a condition that practically cannot be achieved for high-resolution scanning probes forming nanoscopic contacts 18 19 22 23 24 25 .…”

“…Previous attempts addressing this issue on the nanoscale including a two-pass method 23 and dynamic adjustment of the probe sensor temperature 24 31 are complicated to implement and could not demonstrate reliable temperature mapping in those cases where the surface topography is inhomogeneous. This is mainly because R ts of a nanoscopic contact is not only difficult to predict 13 14 29 30 but a position-dependent property that varies dynamically during the imaging of a surface.…”

Quantitative Thermometry of Nanoscale Hot Spots

“…Therefore, the scanning thermal microscope is operated in high vacuum (<10 −5 mbar) to avoid heat conduction through gas or the liquid meniscus at the tip−sample contact. 11,23,24 To quantify the heat flux through the tip into the surface, Q ̇ts , the small difference between Joule heat generation in the heater, P heater , and heat flux away from the heater along the cantilever, Q ̇cl , needs to be quantified upon tip−sample contact. Therefore, the cantilever temperature needs to be calibrated first.…”

Vibration analysis of scanning thermal microscope probe nanomachining using Timoshenko beam theory

“…Since then, the cantilever-based thermal probes, especially based on a modified atomic force microscope (AFM), have been continuously developed. The thermal probe of SThM is now capable of investigating thermal physical properties and thermal characterization of semiconductor materials, optoelectronic and microelectronic devices [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10].…”