Thermoelectric Micro-Refrigerator Based on Bismuth/Antimony Telluride
Abstract
Thermoelectric micro-coolers based on bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3) and antimony telluride (Sb2Te3) are important in many practical applications thanks to their compactness and fluid-free circulation. In this paper, we studied thermoelectric properties of bismuth/antimony telluride (Bi/SbTe) thin films prepared by the thermal co-evaporation method, which yielded among the best thermoelectric quality. Different co-evaporation conditions such as deposition flux ratio of materials and substrate temperature during deposition were investigated to optimize the thermoelectric figure␣of merit of these materials. Micron-size refrigerators were designed and fabricated using standard lithography and etching technique. A three-layer structure was introduced, including a p-type layer, an n-type layer and an aluminum layer. Next to the main cooler, a pair of smaller Bi/SbTe junctions was used as a thermocouple to directly measure electron temperature of the main device. Etching properties of the thermoelectric materials were investigated and optimized to support the fabrication process of the micro-refrigerator. We discuss our results and address possible applications.
- Publication:
-
Journal of Electronic Materials
- Pub Date:
- June 2017
- DOI:
- 10.1007/s11664-017-5343-x
- Bibcode:
- 2017JEMat..46.3660D
- Keywords:
-
- Microfabrication;
- thermoelectric material;
- micro-device;
- thermoelectric micro-cooler