Infrared Scanning Using Radiance vs. Temperature Calibration Techniques to Determine Actual Temperature of an Electronic Component

It is necessary to understand the limitations of an automated InfraRed (IR) system when using it for temperature measurements. These systems correct for emissivity of the test sample by heating the unpowered sample and taking radiance measurements at two temperatures. For the specific sample that was analyzed, the temperature of the area of interest of the powered sample was higher than the two temperatures used for emissivity correction. This resulted in a significant error in the temperature calculated by the system. The use of direct radiance measurements provided an accurate measurement of the sample temperature.