Micro-scale 2D Thermal Gradiometer

The videos demonstrate 2D thermal gradient mappings based on two pairs of 50 µm x- an y- thin film thermocouple (TFTC) sensors. We investigate thin film thermocouples (TFTC) as
thermal gradient sensors at the micro-scale and demonstrate two-dimensional dynamic thermal gradient mapping for features as small as 20 μm. Pairs of x-direction and y-direction thermocouples sense the thermal gradient while another calibrates the Seebeck coefficient as S = 20.33±0.01μV/K. The smallest detectable temperature difference is 10 mK, and the sensitivity is 0.5 mK/μm. The minimal Johnson-noise limited performance for thermocouple devices with typical integrated-circuit dimension is 1.4 nV/√Hz. This device can be applied for embedded thermal management systems that require high resolution and rapidresponse thermal management, such as stacked three-dimensional (3D) integrated circuits.