• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers C
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.12-18
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• 2003

Recently the research for utilization of waste heat produced from electric power plants, casting factories, heat treating factories or commercial building are being afforded by the need for energy saving. The objective of this study is to develop a thermoelectric generation system which converts unused energy from close-at-hand sources such as garbage incineration heat and industrial exhaust etc. into electricity. This paper presents a thermoelectric technology on a optimum system design method and efficiency and cost effective thermoelectric element on order to extract the maximum power output from energy conversion of waste energy. It is shown that the longitudinal stresses of module contacted with two point constrained AI tubes could be released more than those with a one-point constrained.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.89-93
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• 2017

A thin film thermoelectric generator that consisted of 5 p/n pairs was fabricated with $1{\mu}m$-thick n-type $In_3Sb_1Te_2$ and p-type $Ge_2Sb_2Te_5$ deposited via radio frequency magnetron sputtering. First, $1{\mu}m$-thick GST and IST thin films were deposited at $250^{\circ}C$ and room temperature, respectively, via radio-frequency sputtering; these films were annealed from 250 to $450^{\circ}C$ via rapid thermal annealing. The optimal power factor was found at an annealing temperature of $400^{\circ}C$ for 10 min. To demonstrate thermoelectric generation, we measured the output voltage and estimated the maximum power of the n-IST/p-GST generator by imposing a temperature difference between the hot and cold junctions. The maximum output voltage and the estimated maximum power of the $1{\mu}m$-thick n-IST/p-GST TE generators are approximately 17.1 mV and 5.1 nW at ${\Delta}T=12K$, respectively.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.66-69
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• 2017

In recent year, energy harvesting technologies from the ambient environments such as light, motion, wireless waves, and temperature again a lot of attraction form research community [1-5] due to its efficient solution in order to substitute for conventional power delivery methods, especially in wearable together with on-body applications. The drawbacks of battery-powered characteristic used in commodity applications lead to self-powered, long-lifetime circuit design. Thermoelectric generator, a solid-state sensor, is useful compared to the harvesting devices in order to enable self-sustained low-power applications. TEG based on the Seebeck effect is utilized to transfer thermal energy which is available with a temperature gradient into useful electrical energy. Depending on the temperature difference between two sides, amount of output power will be proportionally delivered. In this work, we illustrated a low-input voltage energy harvesting circuit applied discontinuous conduction mode (DCM) method for getting an adequate amount of energy from thermoelectric generator (TEG) for a specific wearable application. With a small temperature gradient harvested from human skin, the input voltage from the transducer is as low as 60mV, the proposed circuit, fabricated in a $0.6{\mu}m$ CMOS process, is capable of generating a regulated output voltage of 4.2V with an output power reaching to $40{\mu}W$. The proposed circuit is useful for powering energy to battery-less systems, such as wearable application devices.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.142-142
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• 2007

Micro thermoelectric generator has been attractive for the alternative power source to operate the wireless sensor node. In this paper, we designed the column-type micro thermoelectric device and their device characteristics were measured. n-type Bi2Te3 and p-type BiSbTe3 thermoelectric thin films were grown on (001) GaAs substrates by metal organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD) and they were pattemed. The height of thermoelectric film were controlled by the deposition time, temperature and MO-x gas pressure. Seebeck coefficient was measured at room temperature and hole concentration and electrical resistivity of thermoelectric film were also characterized.

• Proceedings of the International Microelectronics And Packaging Society Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.17-20
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• 2000

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.425-425
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• 2008

Bismuth-antimony-telluride based thermoelectric thin film materials were prepared by metal organic vapor phase deposition using trimethylbismuth, triethylantimony and diisopropyltelluride as metal organic sources. A planar type thermoelectric device has been fabricated using p-type $Bi_{0.4}Sb_{1.6}Te_3$ and n-type $Bi_2Te_3$ thin films. Firstly, the p-type thermoelectric element was patterned after growth of $4{\mu}m$ thickness of $Bi_{0.4}Sb_{1.6}Te_3$ layer. Again n-type $Bi_2Te_3$ film was grown onto the patterned p-type thermoelectric film and n-type strips are formed by using selective chemical etchant for $Bi_2Te_3$. The top electrical connector was formed by thermally deposited metal film. The generator consists of 20 pairs of p- and n-type legs. We demonstrate complex structures of different conduction types of thermoelectric element on same substrate by two separate runs of MOCVD with etch-stop layer and selective etchant for n-type thermoelectric material. Device performance was evaluated on a number of thermoelectric devices. To demonstrate power generation, one side of the device was heated by heating block and the voltage output was measured. The highest estimated power of 1.3mW is obtained at the temperature difference of 45K. We provide a promising approach for fabricating thin film thermoelectric generators by using MOCVD grown thermoelectric materials which can employ nanostructures for high thermoelectric properties.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2005.07c
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• pp.2025-2027
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• 2005

Thermal conductive polymer film was adopted to reduce the fracture of module during the fabrication of thermoelectric generator. We investigated the thermoelectric output power of module with the change of thickness of polymer film, direct contact and thermal-conductive grease. It is measured that thermoelectric output power is decreased with the increasing thickness of thermal-conductive polymer film. And

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.443-447
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• 2009

Bismuth-antimony-telluride based thermoelectric thin film materials were prepared by metal organic vapor phase deposition using trimethylbismuth, triethylantimony and diisopropyltelluride as metal organic sources. A planar type thermoelectric device has been fabricated using p-type $Bi_{0.4}Sb_{1.6}Te_3$ and n-type $Bi_{2}Te_{3}$ thin films. Firstly, the p-type thermoelectric element was patterned after growth of $5{\mu}m$ thickness of $Bi_{0.4}Sb_{1.6}Te_3$ layer. Again n-type $Bi_{2}Te_{3}$ film was grown onto the patterned p-type thermoelectric film and n-type strips are formed by using selective chemical etchant for $Bi_{2}Te_{3}$. The top electrical connector was formed by thermally deposited metal film. The generator consists of 20 pairs of p- and n-type legs. We demonstrate complex structures of different conduction types of thermoelectric element on same substrate by two separate runs of MOCVD with etch-stop layer and selective etchant for n-type thermoelectric material. Device performance was evaluated on a number of thermoelectric devices. To demonstrate power generation, one side of the device was heated by heating block and the voltage output was measured. The highest estimated power of 1.3 ${\mu}m$ is obtained at the temperature difference of 45 K.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.22-28
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• 2014

The thermoelectric generator using solar heat was applied to the device (heat-electricity conversion device) to produce small-scale electricity. The purpose of this study was to investigate the characteristics and performance of the device, which equipped with heat pipe as heat source. The experimental results showed that efficiency of circular single evacuated solar collector was higher 2.7 times than that of rectangular solar collector. Furthermore maximum power of 5 watt was obtained when 2 devices with series array were used and it could be more improved by increasing the number of device or measurement time.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Marine Engineers Conference
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• 2011.10a
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• pp.92-92
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• 2011