Funding
EMP is funded through the Horizon2020 programme of the European Commission.
Selected Publications

Thermal conductivity measurements of suspended Si-N membranes from 10 K to 275 K using the 3w-Völklein method

H. Ftouni, C. Blanc, A. Sikora, J. Richard, M. Defoort, K. Lulla, E. Collin, O. Bourgeois

The thermal properties of suspended thin films prepared by the micro-machining process have been measured using the 3ω dynamic method coupled to a Völklein geometry. A transducer (heater/thermometer) centered on the membrane is driven by an ac current causing periodic thermal oscillations. The measurement of the temperature oscillation on the membrane is made at the third harmonic using a Wheatstone bridge set up. Here by coupling the 3ω method to a Völklein geometry (suspended membrane) we obtained a highly sensitive technique to measure the thermal conductance with a resolution of (ΔK/K = 10−3) and a sensitivity of the order of nanoWatt/K, thanks to a very sensitive niobium nitride thermometry. This method is applied to measure the in-plane thermal conductivity of 100 nm silicon nitride membrane, in the temperature range of 10–275 K.


J. Phys. Conf. Series 365, 012109 (2012)

doi: 10.1088/1742-6596/395/1/012109