Thermal conductivity measurements using 1ω and 3ω methods revisited for voltage-driven setups

1 omega and 3 omega methods are widely established transient measurement techniques for the characterization of thermal transport in bulk-materials, thin films, and 1D nano-objects. These methods are based on resistance oscillations of a heater caused by Joule-heating from a sinusoidal current at frequency 1 omega which lead to changes in the 1 omega voltage and produce a voltage component at 3 omega. Although the usual formalism for analyzing the measurement data assumes an ideal current source, voltage-driven measurement setups are employed in many cases. In this context, we find that there has been lack of clarity if a correction generally has to be considered when analyzing the measurement data from voltage driven setups. In this work, Fourier-analysis is employed to show that a correction is not required for 1 omega methods and for 3 omega measurements that use common-mode-subtraction. Experimental results are presented for a line heater on a fused silica substrate with known thermal properties, and for an individual nickel wire with diameter of 150 nm. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3606441]