Work

A Thermopile Detector Based on Micro-Bridges for Heat Transfer

Year: 2021

Type: article

Abstract: A thermopile detector with their thermocouples distributed in micro-bridges is designed and investigated in this work. The thermopile detector consists of 16 pairs of n-poly-Si/p-poly-Si thermocouples, which are fabricated using a low-cost, high-throughput CMOS process. The micro-bridges are realized by forming micro trenches at the front side first and then releasing the silicon substrate at the back side. Compared with a thermopile device using a continuous membrane, the micro-bridge-based one can achieve an improvement of the output voltage by 13.8% due to a higher temperature difference between the hot and cold junctions as there is a decrease in thermal conduction loss in the partially hollowed structure. This technique provides an effective way for developing high-performance thermopile detectors and other thermal devices.

Source: Micromachines

DOI: 10.3390/mi12121554

Authors: Na Zhou, Xuefeng Ding, Hongbo Li, Yue Ni, Yonglong Pu, Haiyang Mao

Institutions: Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Microelectronics, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences

Language: English

Topic: Advanced MEMS and NEMS Technologies

Subfield: Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Industry, innovation and infrastructure

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,944