Kyocera Corporation

Kenichi Tajima

Koichi Tanaka

Shoji Kohsaka

Shuichi Tateno

Masahito Nakanishi

Hideki Uchimura

Saburou Nagano

Kouichi Kamitubo

Takehiro Oda

Sentaro Yamamoto

Masato Fukudome

Kazuhiro Nishizono

Hiroshi Maruyama

Nobuyuki Tsuchida

Kouji Tokunaga

Tomohiro Iwaida

T provide an N type thermoelectric material having figure of the merit improved to be comparable to or higher than that of P type thermoelectric material, the N type thermoelectric material of the present invention contains at least one kind of Bi and Sb and at least one kind of Te and Se as main components, and contains bromine (Br) and iodine (I) to have carrier in such a concentration that corresponds to the contents of bromine (Br) and iodine (I).

Thermoelectric material, thermoelectric element, thermoelectric module and method for manufacturing the same

Disclosed is a thermoelectric module, including: a first substrate; a plurality of thermoelectric elements arranged on a first surface of the first substrate; and a temperature detector disposed on the first surface or a second surface of the first substrate via a thermal transfer member.

Thermoelectric module and method for manufacturing the same

Thermoelectric material, thermoelectric element, thermoelectric module and methods for manufacturing the same

A thermoelectric module has a first substrate, a second substrate spaced from the first substrate, a plurality of P type thermoelectric elements and N type thermoelectric elements arranged in the space between the first and second substrates, and a plurality of electrodes which connect the P type and N type thermoelectric elements in series. Each electrode is connected to a respective one of the plurality of P type thermoelectric elements at a first connection and a respective one of the plurality of N type thermoelectric elements in the space, and a sealant is located at an edge portion of the space. Each one of a series of first or outer electrodes closest to the edge portion of the space has a concave portion that is concaved in a direction departing from the edge portion of the space and is at a position between the first connection and the second connection.

Thermoelectric module

A thermoelectric element formed of a sintered body of a semiconductor comprising at least two kinds of elements selected from the group consisting of Bi, Te, Se and Sb, and having a micro-Vickers' hardness of not smaller than 0.5 GPa. The thermoelectric element has a hardness of not smaller than 0.5 GPa, and exhibits a large resistance against deformation, and is not easily broken by deformation. As a result, breakage due to deformation is prevented and a highly reliable thermoelectric element is realized even when a shape factor which is a ratio of the sectional area of the thermoelectric element to the height thereof, is increased and even when the element density is increased.

Thermoelectric element

A dielectric material having a low dielectric loss factor for high-frequency use, which comprises a sintered product of silicon nitride chiefly composed of silicon nitride and containing at least oxygen as an impurity component or oxygen as an impurity component and a compound of an element of the Group 3a of periodic table, wherein said sintered product contains aluminum in an amount which is not larger than 2% by weight reckoned as an oxide thereof having relative densities of not smaller than 97% and has a dielectric loss factor at 10 GHz ofnot larger than 5.times.10.sup.-4. The dielectric material has excellent mechanical properties such as large strength and excellent chemical stability, features small dielectric loss factor in high-frequency regions, and is suited for use as a material for high-frequency oscillators, antennas, filters and electronic circuit boards. In particular, those dielectric materials are suited for use as window materials for introducing high frequencies in a high-frequency plasma-generating CVD apparatus, a microwave wave output unit and an oscillator.

Dielectric material having a low dielectric loss factor for

A sintered product of silicon nitride containing not smaller than 70 mol % of a .beta.-silicon nitride as well as an element of the Group 3a at least including Lu of periodic table and impurity oxygen, wherein when the content of the element of the Group 3a of periodic table and the content of the impurity oxygen are, respectively, expressed being reckoned as the amount of an oxide of the element of the Group 3a of periodic table (RE.sub.2 O.sub.3) and as the amount of SiO.sub.2 of impurity oxygen, their total amount is from 2 to 30 mol %, the molar ratio (SiO.sub.2 /RE.sub.2 O.sub.3) of the amount of the element of the Group 3a of periodic table reckoned as the oxide (RE.sub.2 O.sub.3) thereof to the amount of impurity oxygen reckoned as SiO.sub.2 is from 1.6 to 10, and the intergranular phase of the sintered product chiefly comprises a crystal phase consisting of the element of the Group 3a of periodic table, silicon and oxygen and a process for producing the same. The sintered product has a large strength from room temperature through up to high temperatures and maintains excellent resistance against oxidation even at high temperatures, and exhibits excellent resistance against creeping and excellent breaking toughness.

Sintered product of silicon nitride

Disclosed is a composite ceramic sintered material comprising a surface layer of a composition which contains the silicon nitride and carbon, and an internal portion of the silicon carbide or a combination of the silicon carbide, silicon nitride and carbon, the content of carbon or the content of the silicon nitride being greater in the surface layer than in the internal portion.

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Kokubu, Japan

Kenichi Tajima