Abstract
Microscale thermoelectric modules are fabricated by a facile process based on mechanical cutting combined with photolithography processes. Fine-grained materials of p-type Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 and n-type Bi2Te3 dispersed with 0.5 vol% nano-SiC particles, which show improved mechanical strength than that without SiC additions, were prepared by spark plasma sintering (SPS) for the module microfabrication. The fabricated modules have 28 pairs of thermoelectric legs, each of them being as fine as 200 × 400 μm2 in cross-section with a height up to 600 μm, which were connected in series by Ni-Cu electrodes made by photolithographic patterning and magnetron sputtering. Such a microscale module was evaluated under both Seebeck and Peltier working modes. According to the Seebeck mode, when the module is heated under a lamp, the maximum open output voltage and the maximum output power are about 20 mV and 0.15 μW (1.6 μW cm-2), respectively. In the Peltier mode, a temperature difference of approximately 7 K is obtained with the input current of 4 mA. © 2010 IOP Publishing Ltd.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 125031 |
Journal | Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering |
Volume | 20 |
Issue number | 12 |
Early online date | 29 Nov 2010 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Dec 2010 |
Externally published | Yes |
Funding
This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (grant no 2007CB607505) and National Nature Science Foundation (grants no 50820145203).