In “ac” scanning thermal microscopy, an “active” thermal probe is used also as a heater, so as to inject evanescent temperature waves into a sample and to allow sub-surface imaging of polymers and other materials [1]. The sub-surface detail detected corresponds to variations in heat capacity or thermal conductivity. By suitably choosing the temperature modulation frequency, and hence the penetration depth of the wave, we control the depth of material below the sample surface that is contributing to the image.Micro-Thermal Analysis [2, 3] builds upon this technique, in order to add spatial resolution to two well-established methods of chemical fingerprinting, DTA and DMA. In both cases, a temperature ramp is used to subject the sample to “events” such as a glass transition or melting. The chief advantages of using the active thermal probe to provide the temperature ramp as well as the modulation, without the use of a heating stage, are: (a) the data are obtained from localised regions chosen from a previously-obtained thermal image, (b) apart from these regions, the rest of the sample is preserved in its original unheated state.
Accessing temperature waves: A dispersion relation perspective
