• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.139-144
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• 2005

A rigorous research is underway in our team, for the design and development of high figure of merits (ZT= 1.5${\sim}$2.0) micro-thermoelectric coolers. This paper discusses the fabrication process that we are using for developing the $Sb_2Te_3-Bi_2Te_3$ micro-thermoelectric cooling modules. It describes how to obtain the mechanical properties of the thin film TEC elements and reports the results of an equation-based multiphysics modeling of the micro-TEC modules. In this study the thermoelectric thin films were deposited on Si substrates using co-sputtering method. The physical mechanical properties of the prepared films were measured by nanoindentation testing method while the thermal and electrical properties required for modeling were obtained from existing literature. A finite element model was developed using an equation-based multiphysics modeling by the commercial finite element code FEMLAB. The model was solved for different operating conditions. The temperature and the stress distributions in the P and N elements of the TEC as well as in the metal connector were obtained. The temperature distributions of the system obtained from simulation results showed good agreement with the analytical results existing in literature. In addition, it was found that the maximum stress in the system occurs at the bonding part of the TEC i.e. between the metal connectors and TE elements of the module.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.254-259
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• 2015

$Bi_2Te_3$ related compounds show the best thermoelectric properties at room temperature. However, n-type $Bi_2Te_{2.7}Se_{0.3}$ showed no improvement on ZT values. To improve the thermolectric propterties of n-type $Bi_2Te_{2.7}Se_{0.3}$, this research has Cu-doped n-type powder. This study focused on effects of Cu-doping method on the thermoelectric properties of n-type materials, and evaluated the comparison between the Cu chemical and mechanical doping. The synthesized powder was manufactured by the spark plasma sintering(SPS). The thermoelectric properties of the sintered body were evaluated by measuring their Seebeck coefficient, electrical resistivity, thermal conductivity, and hall coefficient. An introduction of a small amount of Cu reduced the thermal conductivity and improved the electrical properties with Seebeck coefficient. The authors provided the optimal concentration of $Cu_{0.1}Bi_{1.99}Se_{0.3}Te_{2.7}$. A figure of merit (ZT) value of 1.22 was obtained for $Cu_{0.1}Bi_{1.9}Se_{0.3}Te_{2.7}$ at 373K by Cu chemical doping, which was obviously higher than those of $Cu_{0.1}Bi_{1.9}Se_{0.3}Te_{2.7}$ at 373K by Cu mechanical doping (ZT=0.56) and Cu-free $Bi_2Se_{0.3}Te_{2.7}$ (ZT=0.51).

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.132-138
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• 2022

Zintl phase Mg₃Sb₂ is a promising thermoelectric material in medium to high temperature range due to its low band gap energy and characteristic electron-crystal phonon-glass behavior. P-type Mg₃Sb₂ has conventionally exhibited lower thermoelectric properties compared to its n-type counterparts, which have poor electrical conductivity. To address these problems, a small amount of Sn doping was considered in this alloy system. P-type Mg₃Sb₂ was synthesized by controlled melting, pulverizing, and subsequent vacuum hot pressing (VHP) method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to investigate phases and microstructure development during the process. Single phase Mg₃Sb₂ was successfully formed when 16 at.% of Mg was excessively added to the system. Nominal compositions of Mg_3.8Sb_2-xSn_x (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.008) were considered in this study. Thermoelectric properties were evaluated in terms of Seebeck coefficient, electrical conductivity, and thermal conductivity. A peak ZT value ≈ 0.32 was found for the specimen Mg_3.8Sb_1.994Sn_0.006 at 873 K, showing an improved ZT value compared to intrinsic one. Transport properties were also evaluated and discussed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
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• 2001.04a
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• pp.24-24
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• 2001

• Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
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• 1999.04a
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• pp.23-23
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• 1999

• Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
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• 1999.10a
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• pp.32-32
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• 1999

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.340-344
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• 2011

Thermoelectric bismuth telluride ($Bi_2Te_3$) films were deposited on $4^{\circ}$ off oriented (001) GaAs substrates using a modified metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) system. The effects of substrate temperature on surface morphologies, crystallinity, electrical properties and thermoelctric properties were investigated. Two dimensional growth mode (2D) was observed at substrate temperature lower than $400^{\circ}C$. However, three dimensional growth mode (3D) was observed at substrate temperature higher than $400^{\circ}C$. Change of growth mechanism from 2D to 3D was confirmed with environmental scanning electron microscope (E-SEM) and X-ray diffraction analysis. Seebeck coefficients of all samples have negative values. This result indicates that $Bi_2Te_3$ films grown by modified MOCVD are n-type. The maximum value of Seebeck coefficient was -225 ${\mu}V/K$ and the power factor was $1.86{\times}10^{-3}\;W/mK^2$ at the substrate temperature of $400^{\circ}C$. $Bi_2Te_3$ films deposited using modified MOCVD can be used to fabricate high-performance thermoelectric devices.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.218-223
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• 2004

P-type $\beta$-FeSi$_2$ with a nominal composition of $Fe_{0.92}Mn_{0.08}Si_2$ powders has been produced by mechanical alloying process. As-milled powders were spray dried and consolidated by atmospheric plasma thermal spraying as a rapid sintering process. As-milled powders were of metastable state and fully transformed to $\beta$-$FeSi_2$ phase by subsequent isothermal annealing. However, as-thermal sprayed $Fe_{0.92}Mn_{0.08}Si_2$ consisted of untransformed mixture of $\alpha$-$Fe_2Si_{5}$ and $\varepsilon$-FeSi phases. Isothermal annealing has been carried out to induce transformation to the thermoelectric semiconducting $\beta$-$FeSi_2$ phase. Isothermal annealing at $845^{\circ}C$ in vacuum gradually led to the thermoelectric semiconducting $\beta$-$FeSi_2$ phase transformation, but some residual metallic $\alpha$ and $\varepsilon$ phases were unavoidable even after prolonged annealing. Thermoelectric properties of $\beta$-$FeSi_2$ materials before and after isothermal annealing were evaluated. Seebeck coefficient increased and electric conductivity decreased with increasing annealing time due to the phase transition from metallic phases to semiconducting phases. Thermoelectric properties showed gradual increment, but overall properties appeared to be inferior to those of vacuum hot pressed specimens.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.549-553
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• 2014

$CoSb_3$-based skutterudite compounds are candidate materials for thermoelectric power generation in the mid-temperature range (600 - 900 K) because their thermoelectric properties can be enhanced by doping and filling. The joining property of thermoelectric module electrodes containing thermoelectric materials is of great importance because it can dominate the efficiency of the thermoelectric module. This study examined the properties of $CoSb_3$/Al/Ti/CuMo joined by the spark plasma sintering technique. Titanium thin foil was used to prevent the diffusion of copper into $CoSb_3$ and Aluminum thin foil was used to improve the adhesion between $CoSb_3$ and Ti. The insertion of an Aluminum interlayer between the Ti and $CoSb_3$ was effective for joining $CoSb_3$ to Ti by forming an intermediate layer at the Al-$CoSb_3$ boundary without any micro cracks. Specifically, the adhesion strength of the Ti/Al/$CoSb_3$ joining interface showed a remarkable improvement compared with our previous results, without deterioration of electrical property in the interface.

• Current Applied Physics
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• v.18 no.12
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• pp.1540-1545
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• 2018

SiGe alloy is widely used thermoelectric materials for high temperature thermoelectric generator applications. However, its high thermoelectric performance has been thus far realized only in alloys synthesized employing mechanical alloying techniques, which are time-consuming and employ several materials processing steps. In the current study, for the first time, we report an enhanced thermoelectric figure-of-merit (ZT) ~ 1.1 at $900^{\circ}C$ in ntype $Si_{80}Ge_{20}$ nano-alloys, synthesized using a facile and up-scalable methodology consisting of rapid solidification at high optimized cooling rate ${\sim}3.4{\times}10^7K/s$, employing melt spinning followed by spark plasma sintering of the resulting nano-crystalline melt-spun ribbons. This enhancement in ZT > 20% over its bulk counterpart, owes its origin to the nano-crystalline microstructure formed at high cooling rates, which results in crystallite size ~7 nm leading to high density of grain boundaries, which scatter heat-carrying phonons. This abundant scattering resulted in a very low thermal conductivity ${\sim}2.1Wm^{-1}K^{-1}$, which corresponds to ~50% reduction over its bulk counterpart and is amongst the lowest reported thus far in n-type SiGe alloys. The synthesized samples were characterized using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy, based on which the enhancement in their thermoelectric performance has been discussed.