We present the fabrication and calibration of a novel calorimeter chip for thermal characterization of liquid samples. The device we present consists of two chips glued on top of each other. Both chips consist of a freestanding SiN membrane with a poly-Si heater and thermopile in the center of the membrane. The calibration liquid is contained between the two SiN membranes. The calibration of the calorimeter chip is necessary to measure the thermal properties of liquid samples under test. We utilized water-alcohol mixtures for the calibration. A resolution of 0.02 mW/K m and 0.001 mm(2)/s has been obtained for thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity measurements, respectively. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.