Low-power heating platform for the characterization and calibration of scanning thermal probes

We report on a micro-hotplate technology platform optimized for the calibration of Scanning Thermal Microscopy probes (SThM) used in surface temperature measurement mode. The three chips designed include the same heating area with a calibration area of 10 × 10 µm2 where the SThM probes can land. The 1st design allows to study the influence of the nature of the material on the SThM probes thermal contact resistance. The 2nd design includes a resistive temperature sensor (RTD) integrated on the contact area, which is dedicated to evaluate the capability of a probe to measure a surface temperature. The 3rd design has a contact area made of a suspended platinum membrane for coupling SThM probes with optical thermal measurements. The thermal response of a thermocouple (TC) SThM probe was extracted demonstrating the relevance of these chips for SThM probes characterization and calibration.