JPH01208876A - Thermoelectric device and manufacture thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the weight, to compact the size, and to enhance the effi ciency of a thermoelectric device by directly intermetallically adhering a thin filmlike N- or P-type semiconductor and a plate or thin filmlike metal by a vacuum thin film manufacturing process. CONSTITUTION:An N-type semiconductor film 10 is formed by a vacuum depositing method on a copper substrate 9. A copper film 11 is deposited on the top of the semiconductor 10, the semiconductor 10 and the film 11 are repeatedly laminated to hold the uppermost and lowermost parts between a copper film 11' and the substrate 9. Then, a copper plate 12 is adhered by soldering to the film 11' at the uppermost part for electrodes and reinforcing. A voltage is externally applied to this thermoelectric device to be cooled and heated. With thus construction, the temperature difference between a low temper ature part and a high temperature part is increased, Joule heat is suppressed, and an available metal amount can be reduced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to thermoelectric devices such as air conditioners that electrically cool or heat air using the Peltier effect, or power generators that generate electricity using temperature differences due to the Seebeck effect. and part 5
Concerning the two-manufacturing method.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a thermoelectric device 7 that converts heat into electricity or electricity into heat converts a P-type semiconductor 4 or an N-type semiconductor into a P-type semiconductor 4 or an N-type semiconductor using a metal plate 1 and a metal plate 2, as shown in a conventional example in FIG. semiconductor 3
It has a structure in which the metals are sandwiched between the two sides, and generates electricity by using the temperature difference between the metals on both sides, or cools the metal by applying an electric field and passing a current.

In particular, the conventional example shown in FIG. 4 is a thermoelectric device in which N-type semiconductors 3 and P-type semiconductors 4 are arranged alternately in series, and when a potential is applied between terminals 5 and 6, one of the metal plates cooled,
The other is heated.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, in such conventional thermoelectric devices, the semiconductor 3 or 4 is made of elements such as Bi and Te and is produced in a bulk state by means of melting, firing, etc. Therefore, (1) it is very brittle and easily damaged by bending.

(2) If you try to increase the temperature difference between low and high temperatures by stacking layers using the cascade method, the thickness will increase! Not only does R-resistance increase, but electrical resistance increases and performance deteriorates.

(3) Because it is brittle, flexible substrates cannot be used and it is difficult to heat and cool objects with curved surfaces such as cylindrical tubes.

(4) Bonding can only be done by soldering or crimping, and the loss due to Joule heat at the bonding surface is large.

(5) Material costs are high due to the use of large quantities of rare metals.

There were other issues.

Based on the above-mentioned problems, the present invention aims to provide a novel thermoelectric device and a method for manufacturing the same, by forming the thermoelectric device into a thin film-layered structure and manufacturing the thermoelectric device by direct metal-to-metal bonding in a vacuum process. .

Means for Solving the Problems The thermoelectric device according to the present invention is a stacking method in which a thin film of N-type or P-type semiconductor and a plate or thin film of metal are directly bonded to each other by a vacuum thin film manufacturing process. However, the uppermost surface and the lowermost surface are made of metal.

Effects The effects obtained by the above configuration or method are as follows.

(1) Since the thermoelectric device has a shape in which a thin film semiconductor and a plate or thin film metal are laminated by metal-to-metal bonding, the shape can be changed very flexibly.

(2) fffF! Because of its structure, a low temperature area and a high temperature area can be created on both sides of the thin plate, and the temperature difference between them can be increased.

(3) Since the semiconductor and metal are directly bonded without using solder or the like on the bonding surface, generation of Joule heat due to electrical resistance at the bonding surface can be suppressed.

(4) Both the semiconductor and metal can have a film thickness of 1 μm or less, making it extremely thin and lightweight.

(5) The amount of metal used is also very small.

Examples Examples according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1st
The figure is an embodiment according to the present invention, and is a diagram showing a schematic cross-sectional configuration of a thermoelectric device.

The thermoelectric device of this embodiment is constructed on a copper substrate 9, on which an N-type semiconductor film 10 is formed by vacuum evaporation. Further, a copper film 11 is deposited on the top of the semiconductor 10, and as shown in the figure, the semiconductor 10 and the copper film 11 are repeatedly laminated, and the top and bottom are covered with a copper film 11.
1' and a steel substrate 9. In this embodiment, a copper plate 12 for electrodes and reinforcement is joined to the uppermost copper film 11' by soldering. Cooling and heating are performed by applying voltage from the outside to this thermoelectric device.

Fig. 2 shows an example in which the thermoelectric devices shown in Fig. 1 are electrically connected in series, (a) is a front view, and (b) is an
-Y sectional view. For convenience of explanation, each individual thermoelectric device will be referred to as a thermoelectric element section, and the entirety of these components will be referred to as a thermoelectric device. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the thermoelectric device used a copper plate 9 as a substrate, but in this embodiment, a polyimide substrate 1 was used.
3, and a copper film 14 and a P-type semiconductor 15 are repeatedly laminated thereon. The copper film 14 at the bottom and the copper film 14' at the edge are connected to the adjacent stacked thermoelectric element section 16 and arranged so as to be electrically in series. However, this joined thermoelectric element part is a method in which thermoelectric element parts 16 using N-type and P-type semiconductors are joined alternately so that the heat dissipation surface and the heating surface face the same surface in each thermoelectric element part 16. is used. The thermoelectric device of this embodiment, in which an insulator 17 is inserted between each thermoelectric element portion joined at the top, is manufactured using the Sogera Huie method.

The insulator 17 is formed by leaving a resist, and a copper film 1 is placed on top of the resist to bridge the thermoelectric element parts 16 on both sides.
49 is sputter-deposited. Electricity is passed through this thermoelectric device from the extraction electrode 18 to perform cooling and heating on the upper and lower surfaces.

FIG. 3 shows a cross-sectional view of a thermoelectric device according to another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the above-mentioned thermoelectric devices are stacked in two stages with an insulating layer interposed therebetween, but the number of stages may of course be any number as appropriate. In this embodiment, glass is used for the substrate 19. Further, insulation is provided between the first and second stage thermoelectric devices by a diamond insulating film 20.

Further, in the figure, 21 is an N-type or P-type semiconductor film, 22 is a copper film, and 23 and 24 are extraction electrodes. A voltage is applied to the extraction electrodes, and the voltage may be applied in parallel or in series. - By using the embodiments of the present invention as described above, the following effects can be expected.

(1) Due to the Fff layer structure, although the thickness is thin,
A large temperature difference can be maintained between the low temperature section and the high temperature section.

(2) Since the semiconductor and metal are directly bonded without using solder or the like on the bonding surface, generation of Joule heat due to electrical resistance at the bonding surface can be suppressed.

(3) Since both the semiconductor and metal can have a film thickness of 1 μm or less, it can be extremely thin and light.

(4) The amount of metal used can be very small.

(5) Since buttering and film formation are performed using a vacuum process, thermoelectric devices can be easily constructed even on resins such as polyimide.

(6) Since the thermoelectric device can be constructed on a thin metal or resin, it is extremely flexible and can be easily used for heating and cooling curved surfaces.

(7) Each thermoelectric element is insulated by the resist used in the lithography process, which simplifies the construction method and prevents defects due to short circuits.

(8) Since it has a structure with fn layers of thin films, it can be manufactured from a very small area to a large area.

(9) Since each thermoelectric device is extremely thin and can be used in any number of layers, it is possible to freely control the temperature difference between the low-temperature part and the high-temperature part.

(lO) Also, since each of the stacked electric device parts is insulated and bonded with a diamond thin film, there is little heat loss.

Effects of the Invention As described above, the thermoelectric device according to the present invention has thin film-like N type,
Alternatively, a P-type semiconductor and a metal plate or thin film may be laminated by direct metal-to-metal bonding using a vacuum thin film fabrication process, and the top and bottom surfaces may be made of metal, or a plurality of these may be stacked as metal. Since the upper surface and the lowermost surface are connected in series as the inflow and outflow ends of electricity, the following effects are achieved.

(1) Since it can be manufactured with a very flexible structure, there are not only few restrictions on shape, but it can also be light and compact.

(2) The thickness of the device can be made thin by using a cascade system that allows a large temperature difference between the high temperature section and the low temperature section.

(3) Since each layer is laminated by direct metal-to-metal bonding in a vacuum, there is a large temperature difference between high and low temperatures, and there is little energy loss due to Joule heat in the laminated portion, resulting in high efficiency.

(4) Since it is a thin film method, fewer layers of material are used, reducing material costs.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of a thermoelectric device according to one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2a is a front view of another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
FIG. 3 is a schematic sectional view of a third embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is an actual perspective view of a conventional thermoelectric element. 2.4.15,22...-semiconductor, 17,20...φ insulator, 13.19...substrate. Name of agent: Patent attorney Toshio Nakao (1 person) Figure 1 I2 V copper grave sales Figure 2 × 13 Polyimide Jinyo

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A thin film of N-type or P-type semiconductor is laminated with a plate or thin film of metal by direct metal-to-metal bonding on the top or bottom surface, and the top and bottom surfaces are stacked with the metal. thermoelectric device. (2) When laminating a thin film N-type or P-type semiconductor and a plate or thin film metal by directly metal-to-metal bonding so that the top and bottom surfaces are metal, vacuum is not applied. A method for manufacturing a thermoelectric device using the process used.