We developed a novel method to measure local temperature at micro/nano-scale regions using selective deposition of quantum dots (QDs) as a sensitive temperature probe and measured the temperature of Joule heated silicon microwires (SiMWs) and silicon nanowires (SiNWs) by this method. The QDs are selectively coated only on the surface of the SiMWs and SiNWs by a sequential process composed of se...

This paper investigates the impact of Joule heating on the scaling trends of advanced VLSI interconnects. It shows that the interconnect Joule heating can strongly affect the maximum operating temperature of the global wires which, in turn, will constrain the scaling of current density to mitigate electromigration and, thus, greatly degrade the expected speed improvement from the use of low-k d...

Considering Joule heating caused by the dissipation of the magnetic field in the neutron star crust to be an efficient mechanism in maintaining a relatively high surface temperature in very old neutron stars, the role of general relativity is investigated. It is found that, although the effect of space-time curvature produced by the intense gravitational field of the star slows down the decay r...

Photoconductive (PC) terahertz (THz) emitters are often limited by ohmic loss and Joule heating-as these effects can lead to thermal runaway and premature device breakdown. To address this, the proposed work introduces PC THz emitters based on textured InP materials. The enhanced surface recombination and decreased charge-carrier lifetimes of the textured InP materials reduce residual photocurr...

Quantitative studies of nanoscale heat dissipation (Joule heating) are essential for advancing nano-science and technology. Joule heating is widely expected to play a critical role in accelerating electromigration induced device failure. However, limitations in quantitatively probing temperature fields—with nanoscale resolution—have hindered elucidation of the role of Joule heating in electromi...

This study proposes a new method to locate and measure the temperature of the hot spots caused by Joule Heating by measuring the free thermal expansion in-plane strain. It is demonstrated that the hotspot caused by the Joule heating in a thin metal film/plate structure can be measured by Phase shifting Moiré interferometry with continuous wavelet transform (PSMI/CWT) at the microscopic scale. A...

A considerable fraction of the solar wind energy that crosses the magnetopause ends up in the high-latitude thermosphere-ionosphere system as a result of Joule heating, the consequences of which are very significant and global in nature. Often Joule heating calculations use hourly averages of the electric field, rather than the time-varying electric field. This leads to an underestimation of th...

We use a Thermoreflectance Thermal Imaging technique to study the transient cooling of SiGe-based microrefrigerators. Thermal imaging with submicron spatial resolution, 0.1C temperature resolution and 100 nanosecond temporal resolution is achieved. Transient temperature profiles of SiGe-based superlattice microrefrigerator devices of different sizes are obtained. The dynamic behavior of these m...

We present a novel thermoreflectance technique to visualise quasi-static Peltier and Joule thermal distributions simultaneously, enabling side-by-side comparison in situ. The main principle is an extension of so called ’-bucket’ imaging techniques well documented in the literature. The method is particularly advantageous in improving both the reliability and turnaround time for the characteris...