Folded Thermoelectric Cooling Structure with Bi2Te3-Based Thin-Film Superlattices

Abstract

The high temperature makes electronic components bear excessive thermal loads, which significantly degrade the performance of devices. The thermal issues in technological applications, such as DNA microarrays and micro-electrothermal systems, have been addressed by using high performance thermoelectric cooler. In this paper, a folded structure of thermoelectric elements with Bi2Te3-based thin-film superlattices (TFSL) material is proposed. The folded structure makes the minimum thickness of the thermocouples as low as 30 μm. Also, the passing electrical current induced by the thin thickness can be decreased to milliampere order of magnitude from ampere with traditional structure. The temperature difference between the hot and cold sides of thermoelectric cooler (TEC) is improved up to 2–16 times than that of the conventional structure. The proposed structure model agreed well with simulation results for relationships between temperature difference and sizes of thermocouples. The presented folded construction with thin-film superlattices materials can provide a viable solution for high-power, as well as high heat flow density device cooling.