Invited Speakers

Stéfan DILHAIRE,  Université de Bordeaux

Laboratoire LOMA,CNRS-UMR 5798, France

 

 

 

Understanding thermoelectric phenomena at the nanoscale is essential for the development of advanced energy conversion systems and for thermal management in nanoelectronic devices. At these length scales, heat and charge transport are strongly affected by confinement, interfaces, and structural disorder, often leading to deviations from classical macroscopic models. This talk presents complementary experimental approaches for probing thermoelectric properties at the nanoscale using both contact and contactless characterization techniques. Two methods are addressed: Scanning Thermal Microscopy (SThM), following the approach developed in my group, and thermoreflectance-based techniques. SThM enables local measurements of temperature, thermal conductivity, and thermoelectric voltage with nanometric spatial resolution through direct probe–sample interaction. In this presentation, the capabilities of SThM are illustrated through applications on individual nanowires, allowing the investigation of local heat transport and Seebeck effects at the scale of a single nano-object and its contacts. In parallel, thermoreflectance techniques provide a fully contactless optical approach to quantify thermal and thermoelectric-related properties with high temporal resolution. These methods are demonstrated on nanostructured thin-film materials, where layered architectures and interface engineering play a central role in tailoring thermal transport. By combining these two experimental strategies, we highlight how contact and contactless measurements provide complementary insights into thermoelectric behavior across different length scales. The respective advantages, limitations, and metrological challenges of each technique are discussed, including probe–sample thermal coupling, spatial resolution, sensitivity, and quantitative calibration. This multi-scale experimental framework contributes to a deeper understanding of thermoelectric transport mechanisms in low-dimensional systems and nanostructured materials, and supports the rational design of high-performance thermoelectric devices.