Year: 2014
Type: article
Abstract: In this paper, we present the fabrication and characterization of a thermoelectric microgenerator.The thermoelectric microgenerator is composed of 370 thermocouples in series, and each thermocouple is formed by p-type and n-type polysilicon strips.The output power of the microgenerator depends on the temperature difference between hot and cold parts of the thermocouples.To increase the output power of the microgenerator, the hot part of thermocouples is designed as a suspended structure, and multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MCNTs) are coated on the microgenerator.The thermoelectric microgenerator was fabricated using the standard 0.18 μm complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process and a postprocess.The postprocess uses reactive ion etching (RIE) to release the suspended hot part structure of the microgenerator.The finite element method software, ANSYS, is employed to simulate the temperature distribution of the microgenerator.The experimental results show that the microgenerator with MCNTs has an output voltage per area of 0.18 mV•mm -2 •K -1 .
Source: Sensors and Materials
Authors: Chun-Chia Yeh, Ching-Liang Dai, Hsi-Fu Shih
Institution: National Chung Hsing University
Language: English
Subfield: Materials Chemistry
Field: Materials Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $748
Funder: National Science Council
OpenAlex ID: W3203754138