A scanning probe microscopy based measurement tool for thermoelectric studies of nanostructures

A scanning probe based tool for thermal, electrical, and thermoelectric measurements is presented. This work combines aspects of scanning thermal microscopy (SThM) and scanning spreading resistance microscopy (SRM) into a single tool for measurement. The measurement tool presented here allows simultaneous electrical and thermal measurement of samples using a probe tip of radius on the order of 50 nm. This tool integrates sensors allowing for heat flux measurement and control, enabling a variety of thermal, electrical and thermoelectric measurements. Seebeck coefficient measurements of a thin film are presented showing the potential for quantitative measurement with spatial resolution on the order of 150 nm.