IR Thermal Microscope (QFI) - Standard Operating Procedure (HotSpot/ThermalEmission)

Operating Procedure for Hotspot and Thermal Emission modes. Thermal Emission mode measures an actual temeperature, whereas HotSpot just shows the pixels with heat, without temperature calculation, and is simpler to run.

Danger: DO NOT damage the probe needles nor microscope objectives.  If you are not careful, you can easily crash the microscope objective into the probe needles!

The microscope objectives may be impossible to replace, and the probe needles are setup for Very low spacing between the microscope objectives, needles and sample stage.

It is better if you can practice how to use a Probe Station in your own lab, or in the NanoFab before using this system.

If you think the needles got bumped or damaged, please notify staff ASAP so we can take a look and replace them.

1. Contact staff for filling the Liquid Nitrogen ("LN2") dewar the day before your planned usage.
2. Use the small ~2 Liter container to fill LN2 for the MWIR microscope
   1. You can tell when it's full when LN2 droplets spill out from the sides of the funnel's foam insert.
3. Turn on the Temperature Controller power and the System Controller (turning the key to 1 and press the red Power button)
4. Turn on the computer by clicking on the rocker switch once, behind the right-side panel. Ensure computer monitor is on. Motion Control will open automatically. Note the Z (focus) setting at Maximum speed 100%! Reduce to 25-50%.
5. Open the Software: Hotspot for standard imaging, ThermalMap for more complex temperature measurements.
6. Set up the electrical connection for the probes through the BNC cables according to your device, and turn on the Keithley power supply/SMU.
7. Move the stage all the way forward with the front-most knob, put the sample on the stage, then move the stage back under the backmost microscope. ENSURE no probe needles are down, nor collide during this process! Do not touch the probe needles with your sample or tweezers.
8. Move the probe manipulators to the right position to contact the device. CAREFUL - the magnetic bases can be hard to move, ensure nothing collides when making large movements. In the Software:
9. Follow the QFI SOP's for acquiring measurements:
   1. QFI Hot Spot S.O.P., or
   2. QFI Temperature Mapping S.O.P.
10. To save your image, right click on the image and save as.
11. Save the file into your Nanofiles folder, so you can download it via FTP.

Ending your Session

1. Unload the sample:
   1. lift the probes.
   2. Move the stage all the way forward, after passing the probes.
2. Turn off the Lamp inside the dark box.
3. Please keep supplies and tweezers inside the dark box.
4. Software: Go to file and quit.
5. Sync the data with the "Nanofiles Sync" program on the desktop.
   1. Optionally check that the data is available on your laptop.
6. Turn off the chuck heater.
7. Close the dark box.

Author: Demis D. John, 2025.  Thanks to Tongxin Han for assistance.