Publications

A nanostructure thermal property measurement platform

Martinez, Julio M.; Shaner, Eric A.; Swartzentruber, Brian S.; Huang, Jian Y.; Sullivan, John P.

Measurements of the electrical and thermal transport properties of one-dimensional nanostructures (e.g., nanotubes and nanowires) typically are obtained without detailed knowledge of the specimen's atomic-scale structure or defects. To address this deficiency we have developed a microfabricated, chip-based characterization platform that enables both transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of atomic structure and defects as well as measurement of the thermal transport properties of individual nanostructures. The platform features a suspended heater line that contacts the center of a suspended nanostructure/nanowire that was placed using in-situ scanning electron microscope nanomanipulators. One key advantage of this platform is that it is possible to measure the thermal conductivity of both halves of the nanostructure (on each side of the central heater), and this feature permits identification of possible changes in thermal conductance along the wire and measurement of the thermal contact resistance. Suspension of the nanostructure across a through-hole enables TEM characterization of the atomic and defect structure (dislocations, stacking faults, etc.) of the test sample. As a model study, we report the use of this platform to measure the thermal conductivity and defect structure of GaN nanowires. The utilization of this platform for the measurements of other nanostructures will also be discussed.