Ultracompliant, Passively Decoupled Thermal Probes:

PicoCal, Inc.
ABSTRACT: This presentation will describe a thermal probe for a scanning thermal microscope (SThM). SThM permits mapping of topography, temperature, thermal conductivity, thermal capacitance, and performing micro-calorimetry with sub-100 nm spatial resolution. The design of the probe, along with the choice of polyimide as the structural material provides very large compliance that virtually eliminates the need for z-axis mechanical feedback both at the chip and probe level in contact mode scans. The high compliance accommodates significant variations in the sample surface, and also prevents damage to soft samples.

BIO: Shamus P. McNamara received a B.S. and M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1994 and 1996, respectively. He received a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering in March 2002 from the University of Wisconsin under Professor Guckel and Professor Yogesh Gianchandani. This work resulted in one patent issued and one patent pending. He was an adjunct lecturer at the University of Michigan during the Fall 2002 semester, teaching EECS 320, “Introduction to Semiconductor Devices”. He was a research fellow at the University of Michigan until January 2004, where he worked on a variety of projects involving micromechanics, including a Knudsen pump and a thermal probe array. Dr. McNamara is currently working at PicoCal, Inc., a spin-off from the University of Michigan in which he is a co-founder.