In this paper, we proposed a method using the self reference technology based on the source distribution images to eliminate the impacts of emissivity unevenness and heating non-uniformi- ties.For validation of the approach, a model of heat conduction via solder bumps was constructed and the chip SFA2 with a miss- ing solder bump was chosen as the test vehicle. Thermal images were recorded and processed using the improved median filter and moving average operation to remove the peak noise and the periodic noise. Three thermograms captured right after the heat pulse were averaged to create the SDI. Then the SDI was subtracted from the original thermal images, and we got the thermal contrast images, in which the missing bump was identified.