Thermoelectric Characterization and Power Generation Using a Silicon-on-Insulator Substrate
Thermoelectric Characterization and Power Generation Using a Silicon-on-Insulator Substrate
Event Date: | February 1, 2012 |
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Authors: | J. Lee, S. Kim, A. Marconnet, M.A.A. in 't Zandt, M. Asheghi, H.S.P.Wong, and K.E. Goodson |
Journal: | Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems |
Paper URL: | http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpls/abs_all.jsp?arnumber=6104089 |
Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems, Vol. 21, No. 1, pp. 4-6, 2012.
DOI:10.1109/JMEMS.2011.2175704
We demonstrate techniques for measuring thermoelectric voltages and generating on-chip power using a silicon-on-insulator substrate. Our design uses lateral heat conduction in the silicon overlayer to establish temperature gradients, which dramatically reduces microfabrication complexity compared to competing designs based on a free-standing membrane. This letter characterizes the thermoelectric power of a metal-semiconductor structure involving a doped SbTe alloy that is relevant for phase-change memory. The thermoelectric power of the SbTe-TiW thermocouple is 24 μV/K, and the power generation output achieves up to 0.56 μW/cm2 with a temperature gradient of 18°K.