Measuring the thermal conductivity of residue-free suspended graphene bridge using null point scanning thermal microscopy

Despite the importance of the accurate measurement of the thermal conductivity of graphene, deviations in previous data are still quite large due to the low signal-to-noise ratio in the measurement of graphene temperature, the uncertainties in the measurement of the heat dissipation, and the influence of the polymeric residues. Herein, we improve signal-to-noise ratio by using null point scanning thermal microscopy, which profiles temperature quantitatively with nanoscale spatial resolution (∼50 nm), independently of both the heat flux through the air and the variation of the sample surface properties. Also, we control and monitor the heat generation rate accurately by heating the suspended graphene bridge electrically. Furthermore, we prevent the disturbance of the thermal conductivity caused by the polymeric residues by using polydimethylsiloxane stamping method, which leaves much less residue than using polymethylmethacrylate. The thermal conductivity values of graphene, whose length and width are 3.6 and 5.52 μm, respectively, were measured as 2430 ± 190, 2150 ± 170, and 2100 ± 160 W/mK at the peak temperatures of 335, 361, and 366 K, respectively, with much smaller error range compared to the previously reported values. The measured values exceed the highest value (∼2000 W/mK at room temperature) obtained for graphite.