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Abstract
The fabrication and characterization of a thermoelectric energy harvester using the complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS)-microelectromechanical system (MEMS) technology were presented. The thermoelectric energy harvester is composed of eight circular energy harvesting cells, and each cell consists of 25 thermocouples in series. The thermocouples are made of p-type and n-type polysilicons. The output power of the energy harvester relies on the number of the thermocouples. In order to enhance the output power, the energy harvester increases the thermocouple number per area. The energy harvester requires a post-CMOS process to etch the sacrificial silicon dioxide layer and the silicon substrate to release the suspended structures of hot part. The experimental results show that the energy harvester has an output voltage per area of 0.178 mV·mm−2·K−1 and a power factor of 1.47 × 10−3 pW·mm−2·K−2.
Highlights
Thermoelectric energy harvesters can be applied in electronic devices and equipments as an auxiliary electrical power source [1,2,3,4], and they have a capability of converting waste heat into electrical power to achieve waste energy recycling
A comparison to Kao et al [18], the output power factor in this work exceeds that of Kao et al [18] because the thermocouple number per area in this work is increased
The thermoelectric energy harvester consisted of eight energy harvesting cells, and each harvesting cell contained 25 thermocouples in series
Summary
Thermoelectric energy harvesters can be applied in electronic devices and equipments as an auxiliary electrical power source [1,2,3,4], and they have a capability of converting waste heat into electrical power to achieve waste energy recycling. Huesgen et al [14] fabricated a micro thermoelectric generator using MEMS technology. We fabricate a thermoelectric energy harvester using the CMOS-MEMS technology. This technology usually requires a post-CMOS process to add functional films [24,25,26] and to release the suspended structures [27,28,29]. To obtain the suspended structures of hot part, the thermoelectric energy harvester needs a post-CMOS process to etch the sacrificial silicon dioxide layer and the silicon substrate. The output power of the thermoelectric energy harvester depends on the temperature difference between the hot and cold parts of the thermocouples. To increase the temperature difference of the thermocouples, the hot part of the thermocouples is designed as suspended structures to decrease heat-sinking
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