A Review on Fabrication Methods for Segmented Thermoelectric Structure

Thermoelectric leg made up semiconductor thermoelectric materials fabricated using various techniques. Types of thermoelectric leg is divided into single thermoelectric material or segmented thermoelectric material. The segmented thermoelectric material is the improvement of single thermoelectric material to produce a high performance of thermoelectric device. Previous study shows that electrical contact does give influence to the thermoelectric leg performance. A single thermoelectric leg usually used electrical contact as a connection to n- and p-type thermoelectric leg. The segmented thermoelectric leg also used similar electrical contact to couple the legs. However, there is an interfacial resistance occur in between segmented leg as it formed from different thermoelectric materials. In addition, there is a joining contact in between the segmented materials, which could give effect to the segmented thermoelectric leg. Thus, this study will discuss more on fabrication and the electrical contact in between segmented thermoelectric as the interface layer or joining technique for the segmented leg. A low electrical contact resistance is necessary to produce a high efficiencies thermoelectric device.