ICT2014 Abstracts

In present-day higher-performance electronic components, the generated heat loads are exceeding the dissipation capacity of the heat sinks, resulting in higher junction temperatures and reduced component lifetimes.   The best reported thin-film Bi₂Te₃ thermoelectric (TE) devices dissipate heat loads of up to 100 W/cm², with conventional bulk TE devices having an order of magnitude lower capacity and thinned bulk TE devices achieving 50 W/cm².  We will describe the direct measurement of the heat fluxes pumped by single couple Bi₂Te₃-based thin-film superlattice (TFSL) TE devices under high applied heat loads, and will describe the improvements made to achieve these results.  

Heat flux values significantly greater than state-of-the-art (i.e. >> 100 W/cm²) have been directly measured for devices built with 8 µm thick TFSL TE materials using Q-meter based measurements. The performance of the TFSL TE modules was characterized at the University of Maryland (UMD) using a different technique and good agreement was found between values measured at UMD and at RTI.  During testing at UMD, ∆T was measured using a thermal imaging camera while heat pumping was determined by supplying a heat flux to the cold side of the thermoelectric module using a laser.

To our knowledge, this is the highest heat flux value reported for a TE device operating under ΔT=0 conditions.   We’ve also obtained very large heat flux values for ΔT=10K conditions in the same device, indicating that significant cooling can be obtained, while still pumping significant heat loads.  Efforts to reduce parasitic effects, along with strategies for pumping still higher heat fluxes with TE devices, will be discussed.