TY - JOUR
T1 - Application of quantum well-like thermocouple to thermoelectric energy harvester by BiCMOS process
AU - Yang, S. M.
AU - Cong, M.
AU - Lee, T.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors are grateful to the reviewers in enhancing the style and clarity of the manuscript. This work was supported in part by the National Science Council, Taiwan, ROC under grant number NSC98-2221-E006-117 and the BiCMOS process was completed by the National Chip Implementation Center (CIC), Taiwan, ROC.
PY - 2011/3
Y1 - 2011/3
N2 - This work aims at improving the energy harvester performance by using low-dimensional thermoelectric materials. A micro-thermoelectric generator (μTEG) with quantum well-like thermocouples is developed by state-of-the-art CMOS (Complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) process. A relaxation-time model is applied to analyze the characteristic length of silicon germanium quantum well, and a thermal model is also applied to calculate the thermocouple size for optimal performance by matching the thermal/electrical resistance. Analysis based on TSMC 0.35 μm 3P3M (3-poly and 3-metal layers) BiCMOS process shows that the maximum power factor and voltage factor of a μTEG is 0.241 μW/cm2 K2 and 10.442 V/cm2 K. Design implementation validates that the μTEG with 60 μm × 4 μm quantum well-like thermocouples (0.05 μm Si0.9Ge0.1 quantum well on 0.300 μm P-thermoleg and 0.280 μm N-thermoleg) has the best performance compared with those reported in the literature.
AB - This work aims at improving the energy harvester performance by using low-dimensional thermoelectric materials. A micro-thermoelectric generator (μTEG) with quantum well-like thermocouples is developed by state-of-the-art CMOS (Complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) process. A relaxation-time model is applied to analyze the characteristic length of silicon germanium quantum well, and a thermal model is also applied to calculate the thermocouple size for optimal performance by matching the thermal/electrical resistance. Analysis based on TSMC 0.35 μm 3P3M (3-poly and 3-metal layers) BiCMOS process shows that the maximum power factor and voltage factor of a μTEG is 0.241 μW/cm2 K2 and 10.442 V/cm2 K. Design implementation validates that the μTEG with 60 μm × 4 μm quantum well-like thermocouples (0.05 μm Si0.9Ge0.1 quantum well on 0.300 μm P-thermoleg and 0.280 μm N-thermoleg) has the best performance compared with those reported in the literature.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.sna.2010.06.031
DO - 10.1016/j.sna.2010.06.031
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:79951681151
SN - 0924-4247
VL - 166
SP - 117
EP - 124
JO - Sensors and Actuators A: Physical
JF - Sensors and Actuators A: Physical
IS - 1
ER -