Development of microthermoelectric generators using integrated suspending bridge-type polysilicon thin-film thermopiles

I-Yu Huang; Guan-Ming Chen; Ting-Yi Wu

doi:10.1117/1.JMM.12.1.013001

2 January 2013 Development of microthermoelectric generators using integrated suspending bridge-type polysilicon thin-film thermopiles

I-Yu Huang, Guan-Ming Chen, Ting-Yi Wu

Author Affiliations +

Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMS, Vol. 12, Issue 1, 013001 (January 2013). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JMM.12.1.013001

Abstract

We describe the development of novel suspension bridge-type microthermoelectric generators (μ -TEGs) having 64,000 to 147,000 serial-connected thermocouples in a 1-centimeter-square chip area using surface micromachining techniques. Each microthermocouple is constructed by a pair of n/p bridge-type polysilicon thin-film thermolegs and a pair of cold- and hot-side Cr/Au metal planes. Under a controlled fixed temperature difference between the cold/hot sides, the open-circuit voltage and the output power of the proposed μ -TEGs are simulated by commercial software (ANSYS). The influences of thermocouple thermo-leg dimensions and number of thermocouples on the thermoelectric characteristics of presented μ -TEGs are investigated. The implemented suspension bridge-type thermopile has a 2.5-μm-height air-gap separation from substrate and its fabrication yield is higher than 75% in the laboratory environment. The measured maximum temperature difference between the cold/hot sides of the proposed μ -TEGs is about 1.29°C, a maximum open-circuit voltage of 4.64 V/cm 2 and output power of 0.65 μW/cm 2 can be obtained.

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I-Yu Huang, Guan-Ming Chen, and Ting-Yi Wu "Development of microthermoelectric generators using integrated suspending bridge-type polysilicon thin-film thermopiles," Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMS 12(1), 013001 (2 January 2013). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JMM.12.1.013001

Published: 2 January 2013

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