In-Situ TEM reveals local temperature measurement in nano-scale electrical devices

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Temperature changes in electronic devices can have a detrimental effect on device reliability. Researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles, the University of Southern California and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have used a Hummingbird Scientific in-situ TEM electrical biasing holder to develop a new method to measure local temperature in electronic devices. They use the plasmon energy in the electron energy loss spectrum to measure the temperature at the nano-scale. This method could aid in the development of future faster and more reliable electronic devices.

A false-color temperature map of a 80-nm-thick, 100-nm-wide serpentine aluminum wire Joule-heated in-situ in the TEM using low-loss EELS measurements. Image Copyright © 2015, American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Figure: This shows the scale from the Hummingbird Scientific Biasing holder to the temperature map. Image courtesy of USC CEMMA and UCLA Regan Group collaboration.

 

 

Learn more about the Electrical Biasing Sample Holder used in the experiment

UCLA Science Paper PR

M. Mecklenburg, W. A. Hubbard,E. R. White, Rohan Dhall, S. B. Cronin, S. Aloni, and B. C. Regan “Nanoscale temperature mapping in operating microelectronic devices “, Science vol. 347 iss. 6222, (2015) pp. 629-632. Abstract

 

 


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