The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 07, 2014
Filed:
Apr. 06, 2012
Dehui Xu, Shanghai, CN;
Bin Xiong, Shanghai, CN;
Yuelin Wang, Shanghai, CN;
Abstract
A miniature thermoelectric energy harvester and a fabrication method thereof. Annular grooves are fabricated on a low-resistivity silicon substrate to define silicon thermoelectric columns, an insulating layer is fabricated on the annular grooves, a thermoelectric material is filled in the annular grooves to form annular thermoelectric columns, and then metal wirings, passivation layers and supporting substrates are fabricated, thereby completing the fabrication process. The silicon thermoelectric column using a silicon base material simplifies the fabrication process. The fabrication of the thermocouple structure is one thin-film deposition process, which simplifies the process. The use of silicon as a component of the thermocouple has a high Seebeck coefficient. The use of vertical thermocouples improves the stability. Since the thermocouple structure is bonded to the upper supporting substrate and lower supporting substrate by wafer-level bonding, the fabrication efficiency is improved.