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Design, modeling, fabrication, and evaluation of thermoelectric generators with hot-wire chemical vapor deposited polysilicon as thermoelement material

Design, modeling, fabrication, and evaluation of thermoelectric generators with hot-wire chemical vapor deposited polysilicon as thermoelement material
Design, modeling, fabrication, and evaluation of thermoelectric generators with hot-wire chemical vapor deposited polysilicon as thermoelement material
This paper presents the design, modeling, fabrication, and evaluation of thermoelectric generators (TEGs) with p-type polysilicon deposited by hot-wire chemical vapor deposition (HWCVD) as thermoelement material. A thermal model is developed based on energy balance and heat transfer equations using lumped thermal conductances. Several test structures were fabricated to allow characterization of the boron-doped polysilicon material deposited by HWCVD. The film was found to be electrically active without any post-deposition annealing. Based on the tests performed on the test structures, it is determined that the Seebeck coefficient, thermal conductivity, and electrical resistivity of the HWCVD polysilicon are 113 µV/K, 126 W/mK, and 3.58 × 10-5 µm, respectively. Results from laser tests performed on the fabricated TEG are in good agreement with the thermal model. The temperature values derived from the thermal model are within 2.8% of the measured temperature values. For a 1W laser input, an open-circuit voltage and output power of 247 mV and 347 nW, respectively, were generated. This translates to a temperature difference of 63°C across the thermoelements. This paper demonstrates that HWCVD, which is a cost-effective way of producing solar cells, can also be applied in the production of TEGs. By establishing that HWCVD polysilicon can be an effective thermoelectric material, further work on developing photovoltaic-thermoelectric (PV-TE) hybrid microsystems that are cost-effective and better performing can be explored.
Thermoelectric generators, hot-wire chemical vapor deposition, HWCVD polysilicon, thermal modeling
0361-5235
4070-4081
De Leon, Maria Theresa
779b393c-38ac-47dd-b960-818eda45de2c
Tarazona, Antulio
c6ae87c5-c746-4f89-9ff0-9e7b6874e94f
Chong, Harold
795aa67f-29e5-480f-b1bc-9bd5c0d558e1
Kraft, Michael
54927621-738f-4d40-af56-a027f686b59f
De Leon, Maria Theresa
779b393c-38ac-47dd-b960-818eda45de2c
Tarazona, Antulio
c6ae87c5-c746-4f89-9ff0-9e7b6874e94f
Chong, Harold
795aa67f-29e5-480f-b1bc-9bd5c0d558e1
Kraft, Michael
54927621-738f-4d40-af56-a027f686b59f

De Leon, Maria Theresa, Tarazona, Antulio, Chong, Harold and Kraft, Michael (2014) Design, modeling, fabrication, and evaluation of thermoelectric generators with hot-wire chemical vapor deposited polysilicon as thermoelement material. Journal of Electronic Materials, 43 (11), 4070-4081. (doi:10.1007/s11664-014-3352-6).

Record type: Article

Abstract

This paper presents the design, modeling, fabrication, and evaluation of thermoelectric generators (TEGs) with p-type polysilicon deposited by hot-wire chemical vapor deposition (HWCVD) as thermoelement material. A thermal model is developed based on energy balance and heat transfer equations using lumped thermal conductances. Several test structures were fabricated to allow characterization of the boron-doped polysilicon material deposited by HWCVD. The film was found to be electrically active without any post-deposition annealing. Based on the tests performed on the test structures, it is determined that the Seebeck coefficient, thermal conductivity, and electrical resistivity of the HWCVD polysilicon are 113 µV/K, 126 W/mK, and 3.58 × 10-5 µm, respectively. Results from laser tests performed on the fabricated TEG are in good agreement with the thermal model. The temperature values derived from the thermal model are within 2.8% of the measured temperature values. For a 1W laser input, an open-circuit voltage and output power of 247 mV and 347 nW, respectively, were generated. This translates to a temperature difference of 63°C across the thermoelements. This paper demonstrates that HWCVD, which is a cost-effective way of producing solar cells, can also be applied in the production of TEGs. By establishing that HWCVD polysilicon can be an effective thermoelectric material, further work on developing photovoltaic-thermoelectric (PV-TE) hybrid microsystems that are cost-effective and better performing can be explored.

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Accepted/In Press date: 23 July 2014
e-pub ahead of print date: 19 August 2014
Published date: 19 November 2014
Keywords: Thermoelectric generators, hot-wire chemical vapor deposition, HWCVD polysilicon, thermal modeling
Organisations: Nanoelectronics and Nanotechnology

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 388340
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/388340
ISSN: 0361-5235
PURE UUID: 510fcc9d-3ca2-4211-b29f-99b021fb9311
ORCID for Harold Chong: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-7110-5761

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Date deposited: 24 Feb 2016 13:15
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:30

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Contributors

Author: Maria Theresa De Leon
Author: Antulio Tarazona
Author: Harold Chong ORCID iD
Author: Michael Kraft

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