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Scanning near-field thermoelectric microscopy for subsurface nanoscale thermoelectric behavior

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Abstract

A novel scanning near-field thermoelectric microscopy (STeM) was proposed and developed for characterizing subsurface, nanoscale Seebeck coefficient of thermoelectric energy materials. In STeM, near-field evanescent thermal wave was induced around the thermal probe’s contact with the thermoelectric sample’s surface via a periodically modulated heated thermal probe, giving rise to a thermoelectric near-field interaction with simultaneous excitation of three harmonic signals for local Seebeck coefficient derivation. The near-field STeM was capable of characterizing local Seebeck coefficient of thermoelectric materials with high lateral resolution at nanometer scale and more importantly provides a convenient, powerful tool for quantitative characterization of subsurface nanoscale thermoelectric properties.

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Acknowledgments

This work is supported by the National Basic Research Program of China under Grant Nos. 2012CB933004 and 2015CB654605, the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No. 51402328, and the Key Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. KGZD-EW-T06).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Inorganic Functional Materials and Devices, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200050, People’s Republic of China

    K. Q. Xu, H. R. Zeng, K. Y. Zhao & G. R. Li

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100039, People’s Republic of China

    K. Q. Xu

  3. State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200050, People’s Republic of China

    X. Shi & L. D. Chen

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  1. K. Q. Xu
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  2. H. R. Zeng
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  3. K. Y. Zhao
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  4. G. R. Li
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  5. X. Shi
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  6. L. D. Chen
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Correspondence to H. R. Zeng.

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Xu, K.Q., Zeng, H.R., Zhao, K.Y. et al. Scanning near-field thermoelectric microscopy for subsurface nanoscale thermoelectric behavior. Appl. Phys. A 122, 521 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-016-0050-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-016-0050-7

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