High-resolution current and temperature mapping of electronic devices using scanning Joule expansion microscopy

A new technique called scanning Joule expansion microscopy has been developed to measure the current and temperature distributions of electronic devices and interconnects with 0.01 /spl mu/m spatial resolution and 20 kHz-1 GHz frequency bandwidth. Based on the atomic force microscope, the technique relies on measuring the AC modulated thermal expansion of a sample due to Joule heating.