Thermal imaging by infrared near-field microscopy

Heat dissipation is a major concern in integrated circuit (IC) design. Mapping the temperature distribution of ICs plays a very important role in detecting fabrication and material defects and also verifying the temperature distribution predicted by thermal simulations. We describe a non-invasive, affordable and easy to maintain thermal imaging system capable of measuring devices under normal operating conditions. The operating principle of our thermal imaging system is based on the application of near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM) to IR thermography.