A Near-Field Thermoreflectance Approach for Nanoscale Thermal Mapping on Nanostructured SiGe

Toward the development of improved SiGe thermoelectrics for next generation of RTG devices, a nanoscale thermoreflectance measurement technique will be built and used to map thermal conductivity (κ) across nanoscale defects in SiGe, targeting specific materials engineering questions. The proposed instrument will combine the proven reliability of κ mapping by frequency and time domain thermoreflectance (FDTR and TDTR respectively) with an AFM-based plasmonic probe to capture the material's thermal response with ≈10 nm spatial resolution. To improve the SiGe zT, both the nano-FDTR/TDTR and conductive AFM will be used to identify the nanoscale qualities of grain boundaries and other defects for improved phonon scattering while retaining effective charge transport.

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