Thermoreflectance is an non contact optical method using the local reflectivity variations induced by heating to infer temperature mappings, and can be conducted at virtually any wavelength. In the visible, the technique is now well established. It can probe temperatures through several micrometers of transparent encapsulation layers, with sub-micron spatial resolution and 100 mK thermal resolution. In the ultraviolet range, dielectric encapsulation layers are opaque and thermoreflectance gives access to the surface temperature. In the near infrared, thermoreflectance is an interesting solution to examine chips turned upside down, since these wavelengths can penetrate through silicon substrates and give access to the temperature of the active layers themselves. Here, we explore the possibilities of each wavelength range and detail the CCD-based thermal imaging tools dedicated to the high resolution inspection of integrated circuits.

A measurement method of thermal conductivities of Cu thin films was devised from the temperature distributions of substrate surfaces. The substrate was prepared to have a prismatic bar shape, and was deposited with Cu thin films using sputtering. Two metal coated surfaces of specimens were brought into contact to maintain the insulated boundary condition. Specimens were heated with constant temperature at both ends. The temperature distributions were measured from the back surface of substrate using a radiation thermometry.

The thermal conductivities of Cu thin films were found to be much lower than those of bulk materials. Wiedemann-Franz law could be applied to thin films produced in this study. Thermal conductivity was also estimated from the resistivity of thin film and Lorenz number of bulk material.

Thermal properties of amorphous silicon carbide (a-SiC) at nanometric scales are studied by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations based on an empirical interatomic potential. A scalable parallel MD algorithm is used for studying systems as long as 30nm. To validate the potential, phonon density of states and specific heat of a-SiC are first calculated. Size effects are studied, and errors are estimated for the temperature profile for different system sizes. Simulation time required to achieve steady temperature profiles is also determined. Finally the thermal conductivities of a-SiC at various temperatures are calculated. The results show that thermal conductivities of a-SiC at nanometric scale also agree with Slack's minimum thermal conductivity model.

Heat conduction of finite-length single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) has been studied by means of non-equilibrium molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The length-dependence of the thermal conductivity was quantified for a range of nanotube-lengths at room temperature. The length dependence of thermal conductivity exhibits a gradual transition from nearly pure ballistic heat conduction to diffusive-ballistic heat conduction. The results show that the thermal conductivity profile does not converge even beyond a micrometer nanotube-length. Furthermore, the diameter dependence suggests that the phonon diffusion is reduced with the diameter.

Hydrocarbon molecules with diamond structure, called diamondoids have gain considerable interest as promising nanoscale building blocks. Very large mismatch between strong, covalent intramolecular bonding and weak intermolecular bonding suggests interesting phonon related properties for diamondoid crystal. We use molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to examine thermal transport of diamondoid crystals. In particular, thermal conductivity of small molecule adamantine and larger molecule pentamantane crystal is studied by equilibrium and non-equilibrium MD. The thermal conductivity of both materials is low, but comparable with that characterizing fullerene crystal.

In this paper, we studied heat transfer properties of a 230nm wide，450nm thick and 5.4 m long single tin dioxide nanobelt using non-contacted high resolution thermoreflectance imaging technique. Temperature difference across the nanobelt was created by attaching its both ends to a microfabricated thin film heater and sensor pair. High resolution thermal images of the nanobelt and thin film devices were obtained at variant pulsing current amplitudes and frequencies, which allowed us to study the inherent thermal conductance of the nanobelt. Thermal expansion induced thermoreflectance coefficient change is also discussed in this paper.

We present a Poiseuille model that can explain the rate of capillary rise of thin polymer films in permeable microcavities. In comparison to the traditional Poiseuille formulation, two unique features of the system were considered: the permeable nature of the enclosure and the effect of thin polymer films that are confined to the substrate. The model predicts that the rate is inversely proportional to the channel width, contrary to what the original Poiseuille model predicts, and it is proportional to the initial film thickness, which the original model cannot account for. The modified model is in satisfactory agreement with experimental data.

A model nanofluid system of copper nanoparticles in argon base fluid was successfully modeled by molecular dynamics simulation. The interatomic interactions between solid copper nanoparticles, base liquid argon atoms and between solid copper and liquid argon were modeled by Lennard Jones potential with appropriate parameters. The effective thermal conductivity of the nanofluids was calculated through Green Kubo method in equilibrium molecular dynamics simulation for varying nanoparticle concentrations and for varying system temperatures. Thermal conductivity of the basefluid was also calculated for comparison. This study showed that effective thermal conductivity of nanofluids is much higher than that of the base fluid and found to increase with increased nanoparticle concentration and system temperature. Through molecular dynamics calculation of mean square displacements for basefluid, nanofluid and its components, we suggested that the increased movement of liquid atoms in the presence of nanoparticle was probable mechanism for higher thermal conductivity of nanofluids.