Development of Multilayer Thermoelectric Energy Harvesters

Shih-Ming Yang, ProfessorDepartment of Aeronautics and AstronauticsNational Cheng Kung UniversityTaiwan, ROCABSTRACTA novel micro thermo-electric generator (μTEG) design is developed to harvest thermal gradient. Compared with conventional in-plan and cross-plan design, the μTEG is in hybrid configuration in which the heat flux from the top to bottom surface is confined passing through the in-plane P- and N-thermolegs. The thermolegs (thermal couples) of poly silicon are isolated by a cavity to prevent heat loss and maintain the temperature gradient thereby improving the output power. Analyses show that the μTEG performance can be further improved by stacking multilayered thermolegs and adapting low-dimensional thermoelectric materials. Design verification on a two-layered µTEG by TSMC 0.35μm 2P4M CMOS foundry process shows that the thermoleg design of 120 × 4 μm (length x width) has the highest power factor of 0.0427 µW/cm2 K2 and voltage factor of 3.417 V/cm2K2. The energy harvesters can be applied to autonomous sensor nodes.

Location: Staufer Lecture Hall (SLH) 102

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: April Mundy