Higher harmonic thermal wave detection in thermoreflectance microscopy with combined electrical and optical heating

Abstract

Insulating lines and channels prepared by focused ion beam implantation on SIMOX wafers have been investigated by thermally modulated optical reflectance microscopy using optical and electrical excitation. Continuous hot lines and hot spots can be visualized by modulated electrical heating, whereas insulating lines forming channels can be imaged only with simultaneous optical and electrical excitation. Three different schemes have been investigated for the combined excitation: (i) optical modulation with additional DC voltage, (ii) optical and electrical pumps modulated at the same frequency with the detection effected at higher harmonics and (iii) two different modulation frequencies used for optical and electrical excitation with the detection effected at sum and difference frequencies. When detecting at higher frequencies, best contrast for the observation of the insulating lines adjacent to a channel is achieved by recording the modulated reflectance signal at the fourth harmonic 4 f where f is the modulation frequency of the optical and electrical pump. The observed contrast enhancement of the double excited thermoreflectance signal is found to be mainly of a thermal origin.