Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T18:04:17.549Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Cross-plane Thermoreflectance Imaging of Thermoelectric Elements

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Peter M. Mayer  and
Rajeev J. Ram
Peter M. Mayer
Affiliation:
[email protected], Research Laboratory of Electronics, MIT, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02139, United States, 617-253-2125
Rajeev J. Ram
Affiliation:
[email protected], Research Laboratory of Electronics, MIT, United States
Get access

Abstract

This paper presents the first cross-plane thermoreflectance image of the temperature distribution in a thermoelectric (TE) element under bias. Using the technique of lock-in CCD thermoreflectance imaging, we can map the temperature distribution of an operational device with submicron spatial resolution and a temperature resolution of 10 mK. As such it offers a complete picture of the quasi-equilibrium transport within the device. The submicron resolution of the thermoreflectance image enables clear determination of localized heating due at interfaces - for example to due contact resistance - and thermal impedance mismatch within samples. The high spatial resolution is ideal for the characterization of thin-film thermoelectric materials where data from conventional techniques (such as the transient Harman method) are difficult to interpret. This paper also presents the first thermoreflectance data we are aware of for BiTe-based material systems. Identification and separation of the Peltier and Joule components of the heating are possible, and finite difference simulations of the devices are presented for comparison with experiment. In this way it is possible to simultaneously acquire information about the Seebeck coefficient, electrical conductivity, and thermal conductivity of the thermoelectric material. The measurements demonstrate the feasibility of non-contact thermal measurements at the sub-micron scale.

Keywords

thermoelectricitythermally stimulated currentmetallic conductor
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 886: Symposium F – Materials and Technologies fore Direct Thermal-to-Electric Energy Conversion , 2005 , 0886-F10-06
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1. Lueerssen, Dietrich, Mayer, Peter, Hudgings, Janice et al. , presented at the Semitherm, San Jose, 2005 (unpublished).Google Scholar
2. Taniguchi, K., Moritani, A., Hamaguchi, C. et al. , Surface Science 37, 212 (1973).Google Scholar
3. Grauby, S., Forget, B. C., Hole, S. et al. , Review of Scientific Instruments 70 (9), 3603 (1999).Google Scholar
4. Matatagui, E., Thompson, A. G., and Cardona, M., Physical Review 176 (3), 950 (1968);Google Scholar
Miyazaki, T. and Adachi, S., Journal of Applied Physics 77 (4), 1741 (1995).Google Scholar
5. Dilhaire, S., Ezzahri, Y., Grauby, S. et al. , presented at the 22nd International Conference on Thermoelectrics, 2003 (unpublished); J. Christofferson, D. Vashaee, A. Shakouri et al., presented at the 17th IEEE SEMI-THERM Symposium, 2001 (unpublished).Google Scholar
6. Dilhaire, S., Grauby, S., and Claeys, W., Applied Physics Letters 84 (5), 822 (2004).Google Scholar
7. Greenaway, D. L. and Harbeke, G., Journal of the Physics and Chemistry of Solids 26, 1585 (1965);Google Scholar
Katsuki, S., Journal of the Physical Society of Japan 26 (1), 58 (1969).Google Scholar
8. Marlow Industries.Google Scholar
9. Green, A. and Cowles, L. E. J., Review of Scientific Instruments 37, 349 (1960).Google Scholar
10. Cahill, D. G., Review of Scientific Instruments 61 (2), 802 (1990).Google Scholar