Quantitative 3w-Scanning Thermal Microscopy: Modelling the AC/DC coupling and the sample heat conduction

TL;DR

This paper enhances the understanding of 3w-Scanning Thermal Microscopy by modeling AC/DC coupling effects and accurately linking thermal conductivity to measured conductance, improving sensitivity and measurement accuracy.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed model for AC/DC coupling in 3w-Scanning Thermal Microscopy and clarifies the relationship between thermal conductivity and measured conductance.

Findings

Proper modeling of AC/DC coupling improves measurement sensitivity.

The paper provides a correct method to relate thermal conductivity to conductance.

Enhanced accuracy in thermal property measurements using SThM.

Abstract

A way to increase the Scanning Thermal Microscope (SThM) sensitivity in the harmonic 3w mode is to heat the probe with an AC current sufficiently high to generate a coupling between the AC and the DC signals. We detail in this paper how to properly take into account this coupling with a Wollaston-probe SThM. We also show how to link correctly the thermal conductivity to the thermal conductance measured by the SThM.