Abstract
It has been suggested in the past decade that nano-scale thermal properties play an important role in a thermal design of nano-devices. In order to measure the thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity of nano-materials such as single-walled carbon nano-tubes and fullerenes, we have developed a new measurement technique based on near-field optics thermal nanoscopy (NOTN). NOTN targets spatial resolution better than 100 nm (up to 10 nm) which is beyond the diffraction limit of light, and is applicable to measure the thermal properties of nano-scale materials in situ. In NOTN, the sample surface is heated by sinusoidally modulated near-field light, and the temperature change on the sample surface is monitored as a thermoreflectance signal of near-field light. In this paper, to check the validity of developed setup, the distance dependence of near-field light is monitored. Moreover, a thermoreflectance signal of 150 nm-thick Al thin film is detected for nano-scale thermometry. Finally, the applicability of our detection scheme, to measure the thermal properties of nano materials, is discussed through the preliminary measurement for Al thin film and single-walled carbon nano-tube.
