Accurate measurements of the cross-plane thermal conductivity Λcross of a high-thermal-conductivity thin film on a low-thermal-conductivity (Λs) substrate (e.g., Λcross/Λs > 20) are challenging, due to the low thermal resistance of the thin film compared with that of the substrate. In principle, Λcross could be measured by time-domain thermoreflectance (TDTR), using a high modulation frequency fh and a large laser spot size. However, with one TDTR measurement at fh, the uncertainty of the TDTR measurement is usually high due to low sensitivity of TDTR signals to Λcross and high sensitivity to the thickness hAl of Al transducer deposited on the sample for TDTR measurements. We observe that in most TDTR measurements, the sensitivity to hAl only depends weakly on the modulation frequency f. Thus, we performed an additional TDTR measurement at a low modulation frequency f0, such that the sensitivity to hAl is comparable but the sensitivity to Λcross is near zero. We then analyze the ratio of the TDTR signals at fh to that at f0, and thus significantly improve the accuracy of our Λcross measurements. As a demonstration of the dual-frequency approach, we measured the cross-plane thermal conductivity of a 400-nm-thick nickel-iron alloy film and a 3-μm-thick Cu film, both with an accuracy of ∼10%. The dual-frequency TDTR approach is useful for future studies of thin films.
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July 2016
Research Article|
July 01 2016
Accurate measurements of cross-plane thermal conductivity of thin films by dual-frequency time-domain thermoreflectance (TDTR)
Puqing Jiang;
Puqing Jiang
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
National University of Singapore
, Singapore
117576
Search for other works by this author on:
Bin Huang;
Bin Huang
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
National University of Singapore
, Singapore
117576
Search for other works by this author on:
Yee Kan Koh
Yee Kan Koh
a)
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
National University of Singapore
, Singapore
117576
Search for other works by this author on:
Puqing Jiang
Bin Huang
Yee Kan Koh
a)
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
National University of Singapore
, Singapore
117576a)
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Electronic mail: [email protected]
Rev. Sci. Instrum. 87, 075101 (2016)
Article history
Received:
November 16 2015
Accepted:
June 16 2016
Citation
Puqing Jiang, Bin Huang, Yee Kan Koh; Accurate measurements of cross-plane thermal conductivity of thin films by dual-frequency time-domain thermoreflectance (TDTR). Rev. Sci. Instrum. 1 July 2016; 87 (7): 075101. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4954969
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