Direct electrocaloric measurements of a multilayer capacitor using scanning thermal microscopy and infra-red imaging

Abstract

We present two techniques for directly measuring electrocaloric temperature change in a multilayer capacitor based on BaTiO3. Scanning thermal microscopy with resolution 80 mK, and infra-red imaging with resolution 25 mK, each record electrocaloric temperature changes of ∼0.5 K that match within error. We find that scanning thermal microscopy is more suitable for detecting giant electrocaloric effects in thin films with substrates present.