Interconnects in power module result in thermal interfaces. The thermal interfaces degrade under thermal cycling, or chemical loading. Moreover, the reliability of thermal interfaces can be especially problematic when the interconnecting area is large, which increases its predisposition to generate defects (voids, delamination, or nonuniform quality) during processing. In order to improve the quality of the bonding process, as well as to be able to accurately assess interface reliability, it would be desirable to have a simple, reliable, and nondestructive measurement technique that would produce a 2-d map of the interface thermal resistance across a large bonded area. Based on the transient thermal method of JEDEC standard 51-14, we developed a measurement technique that involves moving a thermal sensor discretely across a large-area bonded substrate and acquiring the interface thermal resistance at each location. As detailed herein, the sensor was fabricated by packaging an IGBT bare die. An analytical thermal model was built to investigate the effects of thermal sensor packaging materials and structural parameters on the sensitivity of the measurement technique. Based on this model, we increased the detection sensitivity of the sensor by modifying the size of the sensor substrate, the material of the sensor substrate, the size of the IGBT bare die, the size of the heat sink, and the thermal resistance between sample and the heat sink. The prototype of the thermal sensor was fabricated by mounting Si IGBT on copper substrate, after which the Al wires were ultrasonic bonded to connect the terminals to the electrodes. The sensor was also well protected with a 3-d printed fixture. Then the edge effect was investigated, indicating the application of the thermal sensor is suitable for samples thinner than the value in TABLE 2 3. The working principle of the movable thermal sensor – Zth measurement and its structure function analysis – was then evaluated by sequence. The Zth measurement was evaluated by measuring the Zth change of devices induced by degradation in sintered silver die-attach layer during temperature cycling. At the end of the temperature cycling, failure modes of the sintered silver layer were investigated by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray scanning, to construct a thermal model for FEA simulation. The simulation results showed good agreement with the measured Zth result, which verified the accuracy of the test setup. The sensitivity of structure function analysis was then evaluated by measuring thermal resistance (Rth) of interface layers with different thermal properties. The structure function analysis approach successfully detected the Rth change in the thermal interface layer. The movable thermal sensor was then applied for 2d-mapping of the interface Rth of a large-area bonded substrate. Examining the test coupons bonded by sintered silver showed good and uniform bonding quality. The standard deviation of Rth is about 0.005 K/W, indicating the 95% confidence interval is about 0.01 K/W, which is commonly chosen as the error of measurement. The sensitivity of the movable thermal sensor was evaluated by detecting defects/heat channels of differing sizes. The 2-d mapping confirmed that the thermal sensor was able to detect defect/heat channel sizes larger than 1x1 mm2. The accuracy of the sensitivity was verified by FEA simulation. Moreover, the simulated results were consistent with the measured results, which indicates that the movable sensor is accurate for assessing interface thermal resistance. In summary, based on structure function analysis of the transient thermal impedance, the concept of a movable thermal sensor was proposed for two-dimensional mapping of interface thermal resistance. (1) Preliminary evaluation of this method indicated both transient thermal impedance and structure function analysis were sensitive enough to detect the thermal resistance change of thermal interface layers. With the help of transient thermal impedance measurement, we non-destructively tested the reliability of sintered silver die-attach layer bonded on either Si3N4 AMB or AlN DBA substrates. (2) An analytical thermal model was constructed to evaluate the design parameters on the sensitivity and resolution of the movable thermal sensor. A detailed design flow chart was provided in this thesis. To avoid edge effect, requirements on thickness and materials of test coupon also existed. Test coupon with smaller thermal conductivity and larger thickness had a more severe edge effect. (3) The application of the movable sensor was demonstrated by measuring the 2-d thermal resistance map of interface layers. The results indicated for bonded copper plates (k = 400 W/mK) with thickness of 2 mm, the sensor was able to detect defect/heat channel with size larger than 1x1 mm2. / Doctor of Philosophy / Interconnects in power module result in thermal interfaces. The thermal interfaces degrade during operation and their reliability can be especially problematic when the interconnecting area is large. In order to improve the quality of the bonding process, as well as to be able to accurately assess interface reliability, it would be desirable to have a simple, reliable, and nondestructive measurement technique that would produce a 2-d map of the interface thermal resistance across a large bonded area. Based on the transient thermal method of JEDEC standard 51-14, we developed a measurement technique that involves moving a thermal sensor discretely across a large-area bonded substrate and acquiring the interface thermal resistance at each location. As detailed herein, the sensor was fabricated by packaging an IGBT bare die, which allowed us to get a 2-d map of the interface thermal resistance. A thermal model was also constructed to guide the design of the sensor, to increase its performance. Moreover, the preliminary test of the test setup was conducted to prove its feasibility for the sensor. Eventually, the sensor’s performance and application was demonstrated by measuring the 2-d thermal resistance map of the bonded interfaces.