3-Omega-T-Type Method for Measuring the Thermophysical Properties of Micro/Nanowires

A novel 3ω-T type probe method is developed to investigate the thermal effusivity of micro/nanowires. In this method, a short hot wire subjected to an alternating current serves simultaneously as a heater and a thermometer, and a test wire is attached to the midpoint of the hot wire with an interstitial material. A measurement system based on a virtual lock-in is developed to measure the thermal impedance of the interposer and the thermal effusivity of the test wire. The same value of thermal effusivity is obtained with the presence of different interposers, and the interposer with small thermal impedance gives a decrease of the temperature oscillation of the hot wire. Using this method, the thermal resistances of bare metallic junctions are measured as a function of temperature. For the junction established by two crossed platinum wires with small diameters, the thermal contact resistance is found to decrease as temperature increases, which can possibly be explained the plastic deformation of the microscopic contacts.