Remote thermal imaging with 0.7hyphen;mgr;m spatial resolution using temperaturehyphen;dependent fluorescent thin flims

摘要

We have applied the recently developed technique of fluorescent thermal imaging to measure the surface temperature profile of a test sample with unprecedented temperature and spatial resolution. A particularly simple temperature profile was produced by passing an electrical current through a long, unresolvably thin metal stripe on a glass substrate. The sample was coated with a fluorescent thin film whose fluorescence efficiency decreases with increasing temperature. Digital processing of the fluorescence image produces a quantitative surface temperature map with simultaneous temperature and spatial resolutions of 0.08thinsp;deg;C and 0.7 mgr;m, respectively. This spatial resolution approaches for the first time the dimensions of statehyphen;ofhyphen;thehyphen;art integrated circuits. Extension of this technique into the nanosecond time domain will allow new advances in the fields of photothermal microscopy, integrated circuit diagnostics, and thermal transport measurements.