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Scanning thermal probe calibration for accurate measurement of thermal conductivity of ultrathin films

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Abstract

Scanning thermal microscopy allows thermal characterization with nanoscale resolution. However, quantitative usage has been met with skepticism, because no standard exists for calibrating probe–sample thermal exchange. In this paper, three published strategies for calibrating probe–sample thermal exchange are directly compared, then used to measure bulk and thin-film thermal conductivity. It is shown that with an appropriately calibrated probe and film-on-substrate heat conduction model, thermal conductivity values of ultrathin-film (2.9–202 nm) Al2O3 on silicon are within 20% deviation of independently measured values, while more commonly used methods yield values that may deviate by more a factor of two.

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Acknowledgments

This work was performed while the author held an NRC Research Associateship award at the US Army Research Laboratory.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Academy of Sciences, National Research Council, 500 E. 5th Street NW, Washington, DC, 20001, USA

    Adam A. Wilson

  2. Sensors and Electron Devices Directorate, US Army Research Laboratory, 2800 Powder Mill Rd, Adelphi, MD, 20783, USA

    Adam A. Wilson

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Correspondence to Adam A. Wilson.

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The supplementary material for this article can be found at https://doi.org/10.1557/mrc.2019.37

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Wilson, A.A. Scanning thermal probe calibration for accurate measurement of thermal conductivity of ultrathin films. MRS Communications 9, 650–656 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1557/mrc.2019.37

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