Understanding Thermoreflectance Imaging in Thermal Conductivity Testing Instruments
October 10, 2022by John Gaskins
Traditional thermal metrology techniques cannot be relied upon to generate reliable thermal resistance data for thin film materials.
Traditional thermal metrology techniques cannot be relied upon to generate reliable thermal resistance data for thin film materials.
| Literature Value | TPS Measurement | SSTR-F Measurement | |
| Pyroceram 9606 | 4.07 +/- .26 | 3.95 | 3.95 +/- 0.2 |
| HPFS 7980 | 1.38 | 1.39 | 1.39 +/- 0.09 |



20 SSTR-F measurements at same spot

20 SSTR-F measurements at random spots

SSTR-F data on 4 different 200 nm dielectric films on silicon with thermal conductivity ranging from ~0.35 W/m/K up to 1.8 W/m/K. SSTR-F allows for easy, rapid and automated identification of different temperature rises based on the thermal conductivity of the different films.

SSTR measurements on ALD grown ultrathin film amorphous gate dielectrics (compared to TDTR) (source).

SSTR measurements of AlN crystalline thin films.2 SSTR data (temperature rise vs. power) on right for AlN film and silicon wafer control.


