Scanning thermal microscopy: A nanoprobe technique for studying the thermal properties of nanocomponents

In this paper, a novel micromachined scanning thermal microscopy (SThM) microcantilever with a sharp, conductive platinum tip is proposed for temperature and thermal conductivity measurements in sub-micron structures of micro- and nanoelectronic components. The idea and physical background of SThM operation is presented, together with brief description of probes and example images of a planar polycrystalline-silicon microfuse obtained using passive- and active-mode SThM. (C) 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim