Nanometer scale thermal measurement for next-generation electronics via scanning Joule expansion microscopy

Abstract

As semiconductor devices continue to scale down, increasing power densities introduce significant thermal management challenges. High-resolution thermal imaging is crucial for understanding localized heating and ensuring device reliability. Scanning Joule expansion microscopy (SJEM) has emerged as a powerful technique for nanoscale thermal characterization, offering high spatial and temperature resolution without the need for specialized thermal sensors. This review explores SJEM’s fundamental principles, historical advancements, and critical applications, including thermoelectric effects, current crowding, and conductive filament analysis. We further discuss the challenges and future opportunities in SJEM, such as enhancing the mechanistic understanding of thermal strain, developing specialized atomic force microscope probes, enabling real-time probe manipulation, integrating AI-driven analysis, and extending SJEM to low-temperature physics studies. As semiconductor technology advances, SJEM is expected to play an essential role in thermal failure analysis, nanoelectronics, and nanoscale energy transport research.