Experimental Process Development for Scanning Thermal Microscopy in Air and Vacuum

This thesis explores the procedure of making thermal and force measurements using a scanning thermal microscope (SThM) in both air and vacuum environments. The atomic force microscopy(AFM) and SThM literature will be reviewed, including thermal transport at the tip sample interface and methods of determining the spring constant of the cantilever. The thesis will then discuss the instruments that are used in the experiment, and the procedure for making thermal and force measurements. Thermal and force measurements were obtained with five different samples that cover different thermal and mechanical properties. Silicon, silicon carbide, mica and PTFE along with a thin film of gold for which the thermal conductivity would be determined. The topography analysis, interpretation of force and thermal curves will be discussed and recommendations made about the best ways to attempt quantitative measurements using these techniques.