Sub-picowatt resolution calorimetry with niobium nitride thin-film thermometer
- Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093 (United States)
High-resolution calorimetry has many important applications such as probing nanoscale thermal transport and studying the thermodynamics of biological and chemical systems. In this work, we demonstrated a calorimeter with an unprecedentedly high resolution at room temperature using a high-performance resistive thermometry material, niobium nitride (NbN{sub x}). Based on a theoretical analysis, we first showed that the heat flux resolution of a resistive-thermometry based calorimeter depends on the parasitic thermal conductance of the device and the temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) of the thermometer, when the noise is limited by the Johnson noise. Based on this analysis, we then developed a calorimeter using NbN{sub x} as the thermometry material because it possesses both high TCR (∼0.67%/K) and a low thermal conductivity (k ∼ 1.1 W/m K). This calorimeter, when used with the modulated heating scheme, demonstrated an unprecedentedly high power resolution of 0.26 pW at room temperature. In addition, NbN{sub x} based resistive thermometry can also be extended to cryogenic temperature, where the TCR is shown to be significantly higher.
- OSTI ID:
- 22314457
- Journal Information:
- Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 85, Issue 9; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0034-6748
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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