DC and AC scanning thermal microscopy using micro-thermoelectric probe

A scanning thermal microscope working in passive mode is described. This tool uses a thermocouple probe and is presented as a thermal imaging system. The surface temperature distribution of a thermal micro-component is presented. We point out the capacity of our system to perform surface temperature images under conditions for which most of usual techniques cannot operate. The thermal microscope is insensitive to optical surface parameters, can operate from ambient to 1000K and allow measuring DC and AC temperature components.