  In this work we investigate the thermal structure of an off-limb active
region in various non-flaring areas, as it provides key information on the way
these structures are heated. In particular, we concentrate in the very hot
component (>3 MK) as it is a crucial element to discriminate between different
heating mechanisms. We present an analysis using Fe and Ca emission lines from
both SOHO/SUMER and HINODE/EIS. A dataset covering all ionization stages from
Fe X to Fe XIX has been used for the thermal analysis (both DEM and EM). Ca XIV
is used for the SUMER-EIS radiometric cross-calibration.
  We show how the very hot plasma is present and persistent almost everywhere
in the core of the limb AR. The off-limb AR is clearly structured in Fe XVIII.
Almost everywhere, the EM analysis reveals plasma at 10 MK (visible in Fe XIX
emission) which is down to 0.1% of EM of the main 3 MK plasma. We estimate the
power law index of the hot tail of the EM to be between -8.5 and -4.4. However,
we leave an open question on the possible existence of a small minor peak at
around 10 MK. The absence in some part of the AR of Fe XIX and Fe XXIII lines
(which fall into our spectral range) enables us to determine an upper limit on
the EM at such temperatures. Our results include a new Ca XIV 943.59 \AA~
atomic model.
