Fabrication and characterization of suspended SiNx islands for measurement of thermal and thermoelectric properties of micropatterned materials

Abstract:
A micro-structured ‘device-on-a-chip’ (DoC) is presented that can be used to measure the thermal conductivity, Seebeck coefficient, and electrical conductivity of thin films, two-dimensional (2D) materials, and even one-dimensional (1D) structures in their in-plane directionbased on the suspended microfabricated-device method. The DoC consists of two resistive temperature detectors (RTDs) and four electrodes on two suspended silicon nitride (SiN) islands. The sample under test forms a bridge between the two islands. Here, the fabrication process of the DoCs which utilizes commonly available optical lithography and lift-off fabrication methods is presented. The DoC was utilized to measure the thermal conductivity of the SiNx thin film.