Methods of thermoreflectance thermography

1. A method of performing thermoreflectance measurements with an imaging system, comprising:

reflecting radiation from a number of points in a sample in response to an illuminating radiation while a temperature modulation is applied to the sample, wherein at least a portion of the illuminating radiation passes through at least a portion of the sample and is reflected at a change in refractive index interface;

passing the reflected radiation through an aperture that rejects non-focused light;

acquiring digital images of the reflected radiation after the reflected radiation passes through the aperture; and

deriving a map of relative reflectivity of the sample based on the digital images.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising repeating acquisition of digital images until uncertainty in the relative reflectivity is reduced to a value such that relative reflectivity signals that are less than a bit-depth of the imaging system can be detected.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising selecting the number of acquired digital images to be greater than 10 3 .

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising selecting the number of acquired digital images to be 4×10 3 to 8×10 6 .

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the reflected radiation passes through a confocal spinning disk.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the spinning disk is a Nipkow spinning disk having an array of apertures that reject non-focused light.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the imaging was selected from the group consisting of single point confocal measurement imaging, scanning confocal imaging, Nipkow disk imaging, an aperture mesh, as well as combinations comprising at least one of the foregoing.

8. The method of claim 1 , using an analog detector with a lock-in amplifier.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the aperture comprises a geometry selected from the group consisting of circular, slit, and combinations comprising at least one of the foregoing.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the aperture comprises a geometry selected from the group consisting of pinhole, elongated, oval, and combinations comprising at least one of the foregoing.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sample comprises a transparent sample.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the map exhibits a lateral spatial resolution of 100 nanometers to 1 micrometer.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the aperture comprises an array of apertures that reject non-focused light.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the illuminating radiation passes through the aperture before contacting the sample.

15. A method of performing thermoreflectance measurements, comprising:

modulating temperature of a sample at a selected modulation frequency (f);

illuminating a portion of the sample with radiation;

reflecting at least a portion of the radiation;

rejecting non-focused light using an aperture;

utilizing an imaging system to detect the reflecting radiation, wherein the imaging system obtains a selected number of reflectance images in one period of the temperature modulation;

calculating from the reflectance images a map of the sample.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein uncertainty in the calculated relative reflectance is less than 10 −5 .

17. The method of claim 15 , further comprising passing at least a portion of the illuminating radiation into the sample and reflecting at least a portion of the passed radiation at a change refractive index interface.

18. The method of claim 15 , wherein the map is a quasi 3-D characterization.

19. The method of claim 15 , wherein the imaging system detects radiation using 4Pi confocal microscopy.

20. The method of claim 15 , the digital imaging system detects radiation using near-field scanning optical microscopy.

21. The method of claim 15 , wherein the imaging system detects radiation using structured illumination microscopy.

22. A method of performing thermoreflectance measurements with an imaging system, comprising:

reflecting radiation from a number of points in a sample in response to an illuminating radiation while a temperature modulation is applied to the sample, wherein at least a portion of the illuminating radiation passes through at least a portion of the sample and is reflected at a change refractive index interface;

passing the reflected radiation through an optical fiber that rejects non-focused light;

acquiring digital images of the reflected radiation after the reflected radiation passes through the optical fiber; and

deriving a map of relative reflectivity of the sample based on the digital images.

23. A method of performing thermoreflectance measurements with an imaging system, comprising:

passing illuminating radiation through an aperture and into a sample while a temperature modulation is applied to the sample, wherein at least a portion of the illuminating radiation is reflected at a change refractive index interface;

reflecting radiation from a number of points in a sample;

passing the reflected radiation through the aperture which rejects non-focused light;

acquiring digital images of the reflected radiation; and

deriving a map of relative reflectivity of the sample based on the digital images.

24. The method of claim 23 , wherein the digital images are taken at the same location in the sample.

25. A method of performing thermoreflectance measurements with an imaging system, comprising:

reflecting radiation from a point in a sample in response to an illuminating radiation while a temperature modulation is applied to the sample, wherein at least a portion of the illuminating radiation passes through at least a portion of the sample and is reflected at a change in refractive index interface;

passing the reflected radiation through an aperture that rejects non-focused light;

acquiring digital images of the reflected radiation after the reflected radiation passes through the aperture; and

deriving a map of relative reflectivity of the sample based on the digital images.

26. The method of claim 25 , wherein the radiation is reflected from a single point.