1. Application of microsystems technology in the fabrication of thermoelectric micro-converters
- Author
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L. M. Goncalves, J. G. Rocha, and Universidade do Minho
- Subjects
010302 applied physics ,Microelectromechanical systems ,Materials science ,Fabrication ,business.industry ,Thermoelectric ,02 engineering and technology ,Microsystems ,021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology ,Thermoelectric materials ,01 natural sciences ,7. Clean energy ,Engineering physics ,law.invention ,law ,Microsystem ,0103 physical sciences ,Thermoelectric effect ,Microelectronics ,Photolithography ,0210 nano-technology ,LIGA ,business - Abstract
The use of thin-film deposition techniques with microsystems technologies renewed the interest in the thermoelectricity in the last years. Integration of efficient solid-state thermoelectric (TE) microdevices with microelectronics is desirable for local cooling and, since they can be used to stabilise the temperature of devices, decrease noise levels and increase operation speed. Their use in thermoelectric microgeneration (energy harvesting) can also supply energy to low power consumption electronic devices. In this chapter, the fabrication of thermoelectric microconverters is compared, both on materials from thin-film composites to supperlattice structures, and on its fabrication techniques. Various materials can be used for this type of converters. However, for room temperature application, Bi/Sb/Te compounds are still the most efficient thermoelectric materials. Recently, efforts were made to apply quantum confinement to thermoelectric materials, and the results are thin-film superlattice structures and nanowires and even more recently, bulk nanocomposites. Some of these materials proved the ability to double efficiency of current thermoelectric devices. Several deposition techniques can be used for the fabrication of Bi/Sb/Te thin-films: co-sputtering, electrochemical deposition, metal-organic chemical vapor deposition or flash evaporation are some examples compared here. The patterning process must use photolithography techniques to create the small dimensions of these devices. Despite these techniques are commonly used in microelectronic devices, mainly with silicon based substrates, its application in other thermoelectric alloys is still under development. The patterning of thermoelectric structures for the fabrication of thermoelectric microconverters can be done using common microsystems technologies. Techniques used in MEMS fabrication, namely wet-etching, lift-off (with SU-8 photoresist), Reactive Ion Etching (RIE) and Lithography-Electroplating-Molding (LIGA) are here compared for the fabrication of thermoelectric microsystems.
- Published
- 2010