Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Nanoscale resolution scanning thermal microscopy using carbon nanotube tipped thermal probes
AU - D. Tovee, Peter
AU - Pumarol, Manuel
AU - C. Rosamond, Mark
AU - Jones, Robert
AU - C. Petty, Michael
AU - A. Zeze, Dagou
AU - V. Kolosov, Oleg
N1 - E-mail: o.kolosov@lancaster.ac.uk, http://www.nano-science.com
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - We present a new concept of scanning thermal nanoprobe that utilizes the extreme thermal conductance of a carbon nanotube (CNT) to channel heat between the probe and the sample. The integration of CNT in scanning thermal microscopy (SThM) overcomes the main drawbacks of standard SThM probes, where the low thermal conductance of the apex SThM probe is the main limiting factor. The integration of CNT (CNT- SThM) extends SThM sensitivity to thermal transport measurement in higher thermal conductivity materials such as metals, semiconductors and ceramics, while also improving the spatial resolution. Investigation of thermal transport in ultra large scale integration (ULSI) interconnects, using CNT- SThM probe, showed fine details of heat transport in ceramic layer, vital for mitigating electromigration in ULSI metallic current leads. For a few layer graphene, the heat transport sensitivity and spatial resolution of the CNT-SThM probe demonstrated significantly superior thermal resolution compared to that of standard SThM probes achieving 20-30 nm topography and ~30 nm thermal spatial resolution compared to 50-100 nm for standard SThM probes. The outstanding axial thermal conductivity, high aspect ratio and robustness of CNTs can make CNT-SThM the perfect thermal probe for the measurement of nanoscale thermophysical properties and an excellent candidate for the next generation of thermal microscopes.
AB - We present a new concept of scanning thermal nanoprobe that utilizes the extreme thermal conductance of a carbon nanotube (CNT) to channel heat between the probe and the sample. The integration of CNT in scanning thermal microscopy (SThM) overcomes the main drawbacks of standard SThM probes, where the low thermal conductance of the apex SThM probe is the main limiting factor. The integration of CNT (CNT- SThM) extends SThM sensitivity to thermal transport measurement in higher thermal conductivity materials such as metals, semiconductors and ceramics, while also improving the spatial resolution. Investigation of thermal transport in ultra large scale integration (ULSI) interconnects, using CNT- SThM probe, showed fine details of heat transport in ceramic layer, vital for mitigating electromigration in ULSI metallic current leads. For a few layer graphene, the heat transport sensitivity and spatial resolution of the CNT-SThM probe demonstrated significantly superior thermal resolution compared to that of standard SThM probes achieving 20-30 nm topography and ~30 nm thermal spatial resolution compared to 50-100 nm for standard SThM probes. The outstanding axial thermal conductivity, high aspect ratio and robustness of CNTs can make CNT-SThM the perfect thermal probe for the measurement of nanoscale thermophysical properties and an excellent candidate for the next generation of thermal microscopes.
KW - cond-mat.mtrl-sci
KW - cond-mat.mes-hall
KW - AFM
KW - SThM
KW - scanning thermal microscopy
KW - CNT
KW - nanoscale heat transfer
U2 - 10.1039/C3CP53047G
DO - 10.1039/C3CP53047G
M3 - Journal article
VL - 16
SP - 1174
EP - 1181
JO - Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics
JF - Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics
SN - 1463-9076
IS - 3
ER -