Application of network identification by deconvolution method to the thermal analysis of the pump-probe transient thermoreflectance signal.

The paper discusses the possibility to apply network identification by deconvolution (NID) method to the analysis of the thermal transient behavior due to a laser delta pulse excitation in a pump-probe transient thermoreflectance experiment. NID is a method based on linear RC network theory using Fourier's law of heat conduction. This approach allows the extraction of the thermal time constant spectrum of the sample under study after excitation by either a step or pulse function. Furthermore, using some mathematical transformations, the method allows analyzing the detail of the heat flux path through the sample, starting from the excited top free surface, by introducing two characteristic functions: the cumulative structure function and the differential structure function. We start by a review of the theoretical background of the NID method in the case of a step function excitation and then show how this method can be adjusted to be used in the case of a delta pulse function excitation. We show how the NID method can be extended to analyze the thermal transients of many optical experiments in which the excitation function is a laser pulse. The effect of the semi-infinite substrate as well as extraction of the interface and thin film thermal resistances will be discussed.