Thermoreflectance Thermal Imaging Research Articles

High temperature thermoreflectance imaging and transient Harman characterization of thermoelectric energy conversion devices

Advances in thin film growth technology have enabled the selective engineering of material properties to improve the thermoelectric figure of merit and thus the efficiency of energy conversion devices. Precise characterization at the operational temperature of novel thermoelectric materials is crucial to evaluate their performance and optimize their behavior. However, measurements on thin film devices are subject to complications from the growth substrate, non-ideal contacts, and other thermal and electrical parasitic effects. In this manuscript, we determine the cross-plane thermoelectric material properties in a single measurement of a 25 μm InGaAs thin film with embedded ErAs (0.2%) nanoparticles using the bipolar transient Harman method in conjunction with thermoreflectance thermal imaging at temperatures up to 550 K. This approach eliminates discrepancies and potential device degradation from the multiple measurements necessary to obtain individual material parameters. In addition, we present a strategy for optimizing device geometry to mitigate the effect of both electrical and thermal parasitics during the measurement. Finite element method simulations are utilized to analyze non-uniform current and temperature distributions over the device area as well as the three dimensional current path for accurate extraction of material properties from the thermal images. Results are compared with independent in-plane and 3ω measurements of thermoelectric material properties for the same material composition and are found to match reasonably well; the obtained figure of merit matches within 15% at room and elevated temperatures.

Short Time Transient Behavior of SiGe-based Microrefrigerators

AbstractWe use a Thermoreflectance Thermal Imaging technique to study the transient cooling of SiGe-based microrefrigerators. Thermal imaging with submicron spatial resolution, 0.1C temperature resolution and 100 nanosecond temporal resolution is achieved. Transient temperature profiles of SiGe-based superlattice microrefrigerator devices of different sizes are obtained. The dynamic behavior of these microrefrigerators, show an interplay between Peltier and Joule effects. On the top surface of the device, Peltier cooling appears first with a time constant of about 10-30 microseconds, then Joule heating in the device starts taking over with a time constant of about 100-150 microseconds. The experimental results agree very well with the theoretical predictions based on Thermal Quadrupoles Method. The difference in the two time constants can be explained considering the thermal resistance and capacitance of the thin film. In addition this shows that the Joule heating at the top metal/semiconductor interface does not dominate the microrefrigerator performance or else we would have obtained the same time constants for the Peltier and Joule effects. Experimental results show that under high current values, pulse-operation the microrefrigerator device can provide cooling for about 30 microseconds, even though steady state measurements show heating. Temperature distribution on the metal leads connected to the microrefrigerator’s cold junction show the interplay between Joule heating in the metal as well as heat conduction to the substrate. Modeling is used to study the effect of different physical and geometrical parameters of the device on its transient cooling. 3D geometry of heat and current flow in the device plays an important role. One of the goals is to maximize cooling over the shortest time scales.