Proof of concept; achieving high spatial resolution by nanoscale heating in a.c. mode

What is it about?

Nano-scale thermal physical properties have garnered significant attention due to the necessity of effective thermal management in scalable systems such as integrated circuits. However, experimental measurement of thermal physical properties at the nano-scale remains a challenge, hindering the development of advanced thermal management materials. In addition, the concept of using nanoheating as an alternative to nanosensing to determine local thermal properties has not been verified to date. In this study, We demonstrated such an approach by localising the measurement area to a nanoscale volume beneath the sharp tip of a thermal scanning probe lithography (t-SPL) system. As a proof of concept, we show that nanoscale heating is an effective means of achieving high spatial resolution. The use of nanoheating probes minimises the total energy applied to the sample, making it a suitable method for thermally sensitive materials such as soft materials.

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Photo by Denny Müller on Unsplash

Photo by Denny Müller on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Soft materials exhibit diverse micro- and nanoscale structures that significantly influence bulk thermal transport. Therefore, thermal property measurements at the nanoscale are essential for material development based on direct experimental data regarding the intrinsic properties associated with these structures. In phenomena governed by the heat diffusion equation, it is possible to enhance the typical approach by combining a local heat source with a high-spatial-resolution detection mechanism.The use of local heat sources in nano scale improves the spatial resolution by enhancing not only the sharpness of the detection probe but also the sharpness of the heating probe, thereby expanding the application range and increasing the flexibility of experimental setups. In this study, we demonstrated this approach by localising the measurement area to the nanoscale volume beneath the sharp tip of the thermal scanning probe lithography (t-SPL) system. As a proof of concept, we demonstrated that nanoscale heating is an effective means of achieving high spatial resolution.

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