Three-stage thin-Film superlattice thermoelectric multistage microcoolers with a delta T (max) of 102 K

Abstract

Thin-film Bi2Te3- and Sb2Te3-based superlattice (SL) thermoelectric (TE) devices are an enabling technology for high-power and low-temperature applications, which include low-noise amplifier cooling, electronics hot-spot cooling, radio frequency (RF) amplifier thermal management, and direct sensor cooling. Bulk TE devices, which can pump heat loads on the order of 10 W/cm2, are not suitable in these applications due to their large size and low heat pumping capacity. Recently, we have demonstrated an external maximum temperature difference, ?T max, as high as 58 K in an SL thin-film p–n couple. This state-of-the-art couple exhibited a cold-side minimum temperature, T cmin, of ?30.9°C. We regularly attain ?T max values in excess of 53 K, in spite of the many significant electrical and thermal parasitics that are unique to thin-film devices. These measurements do not use any complex thermal management at the heat sink to remove the heat flux from the TE device’s hot side. We describe here multistage SL cooling technologies currently being developed at RTI that can provide useful microcooling cold-side temperatures of 200 K. This effort includes a three-stage module employing independently powered stages which produced a ?T max of 101.6 K with a T cmin of ?75°C, as well as a novel two-wire three-stage SL cascade which demonstrated a T cmin of ?46°C and a ?T max of nearly 74 K. These RTI modules are only 2.5 mm thick, significantly thinner than a similar commercial three-stage module (5.3 mm thick) that produces a ?T max of 96 K. In addition, TE coolers fabricated from these thin-film SL materials perform significantly better than the extrapolated performance of similar thickness bulk alloy materials.