• Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
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• 2006.09a
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• pp.430-431
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• 2006

Thermoelectric thick film was fabricated by screen printing process with using p-type Bi-Te-Sb powders. The powder was synthesized by melting, milling and sintering process and hydrogen reduced to enhance the thermoelectric property. The thick film of Bi-Te-Sb powder was fabricated by screen printing method and baked at the optimized conditions. The thermal conductivity, the electrical resistivity and Seeback coefficient of thick film were measured and the thermoelectric performance was analyzed in terms of film characteristics and its microstructure. Finally, the feasibility of thermoelectric thick film into micro cooling device on CPU chip was discussed in this study.

• 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.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.21 no.12
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• pp.1135-1140
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• 2008

Bismuth-telluride based thin film materials are grown by Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition(MOCVD). 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 sample was heated by heating block and the voltage output measured. As expected for a thermoelectric generator, the voltage decreases linearly, while the power output rises to a maximum. The highest estimated power of $1.3{\mu}W$ is obtained for the temperature difference of 45 K. we provide a promising procedure for fabricating thin film thermoelectric generators by using MOCVD grown thermoelectric materials which may have nanostructure with high thermoelectric properties.

• 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.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.59 no.9
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• pp.1615-1620
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• 2010

A thin film thermoelectric cooler for COB direct assembly was proposed and the COB cooler structure was modeled by electrical equivalent circuit by using SPICE model of thermoelectric devices. The embedded cooler attached between the die chip and metal plate can offer the possibility of thin film active cooling for the COB direct assembly. We proposed a driving method of TEC by using pulse width modulation technique. The optimum power to the TEC is simulated by using a SPICE model of thermoelectric device and passive components representing thermal resistance and capacitance. The measured and simulated results offer the possibility of thin film active cooling for the COB direct assembly.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.423-429
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• 2011

Thermoelectric-thick films were fabricated by using a screen printing process of n and p-type bismuth-telluride-based pastes. The screen-printed thick films have approximately 30 ${\mu}m$ in thickness and show rough surfaces yielding an empty gap between an electrode and the thick film. The gap might result in an increase of an electrical resistivity of the fabricated thick-film-type thermoelectric module. In this study, we suggest a conductive metal coating onto the surfaces of the screen-printed paste in order to reduce the contact resistance in the module. As a result, the electrical resistivity of the thermoelectric module having a gold coating layer was significantly reduced up to 30% compared to that of a module without any metal coating. This result indicates that an introduction of conductive metal layers is effective to decrease the contact resistivity of a thick-film-typed thermoelectric module processed by screen printing.

• 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 Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.304.2-304.2
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• 2014

Chalcogenides (Te,Se) and pnictogens(Bi,Sb) materials have been widely investigated as thermoelectric materials. Especially, Bi2Te3 (Bismuth telluride) compound thermoelectric materials in thin film and nanowires are known to have the highest thermoelectric figure of merit ZT at room temperature. Currently, the thermoelectric material research is mostly driven in two directions: (1) enhancing the Seebeck coefficient, electrical conductivity using quantum confinement effects and (2) decreasing thermal conductivity using phonon scattering effect. Herein we demonstrated influence of annealing temperature on structural and thermoelectrical properties of Bismuth-telluride-selenide ternary compound thin film. Te-rich Bismuth-telluride-selenide ternary compound thin film prepared co-deposited by thermal evaporation techniques. After annealing treatment, co-deposited thin film was transformed amorphous phase to Bi2Te3-Bi2Te2Se1 polycrystalline thin film. In the experiment, to investigate the structural and thermoelectric characteristics of Bi2Te3-i2Te2Se1 films, we measured Rutherford Backscattering spectrometry (RBS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, Scanning eletron microscopy (SEM), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Seebeck coefficient measurement and Hall measurement. After annealing treatment, electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient was increased by defect states dominated by selenium vacant sites. These charged selenium vacancies behave as electron donors, resulting in carrier concentration was increased. Moreover, Thermal conductivity was significantly decreased because phonon scattering was enhanced through the grain boundary in Bi2Te3-Bi2Te2Se1 polycrystalline compound. As a result, The enhancement of thermoelectric figure-of-merit could be obtained by optimal annealing treatment.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.40-45
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• 2016

Recently, $Bi_2Te_3$-based alloys are the best thermoelectric materials near to room temperature, so it has been researched to achieve increased figure of merit(ZT). Ternary compounds such as Bi-Te-Se and Bi-Sb-Te have higher thermoelectric property than binary compound Bi-Te and Sb-Te, respectively. Compared to DC plating method, pulsed electrodeposition is able to control parameters including average current density, and on/off pulse time etc. Thereby the morphology and properties of the films can be improved. In this study, we electrodeposited n-type ternary Cu-doped $Bi_2(Te-Se)_3$ thin film by modified pulse technique at room temperature. To further enhance thermoelectric properties of $Bi_2(Te-Se)_3$ thin film, we optimized Cu doping concentration in $Bi_2(Te-Se)_3$ thin film and correlated it to electrical and thermoelectric properties. Thus, the crystal, electrical, and thermoelectric properties of electrodeposited $Bi_2(Te-Se)_3$ thin film were characterized the XRD, SEM, EDS, Seebeck measurement, and Hall effect measurement, respectively. As a result, the thermoelectric properties of Cu-doped $Bi_2(Te-Se)_3$ thin films were observed that the Seebeck coefficient is $-101.2{\mu}V/K$ and the power factor is $1412.6{\mu}W/mK^2$ at 10 mg of Cu weight. The power factor of Cu-doped $Bi_2(Te-Se)_3$ thin film is 1.4 times higher than undoped $Bi_2(Te-Se)_3$ thin film.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.174-176
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• 2016

In this study, we maximize the temperature difference between the ends of a HgTe nanoparticle(NP) thin film on a thermoelectric platform with a through-substrate via. The thermoelectric characteristics of the HgTe NP thin film show p-type behavior and its Seebeck coefficient is $290{\mu}V/K$. In addition, we demonstrate the possibility of wearable thermoelectric devices transforming body heat into electricity from through-substrate via thermoelectric platforms on human skin.