Thermoelectric device

A method of manufacturing a thermoelectric device having multiple thin-film thermoelectric elements, comprising:

• forming a layer of a first material at a plurality of thin-film thermoelectric element locations on a generally planar first surface of a substrate;
• forming a layer of a second material over at least the layer of the first material at the plurality of thin-film thermoelectric element locations, wherein the first material is one of a Seebeck effect material or an electrically conductive non-Seebeck effect and the second material is the other one of the Seebeck effect material or an electrically conductive non-Seebeck effect material;
• physically isolating the respective layer of the first material at a respective thin-film thermoelectric element location from the respective layer of the first material at all of the other thin-film thermoelectric element locations for each thin-film thermoelectric element location;
• physically isolating the respective layer of the second material at a respective thin-film thermoelectric element location from the respective layer of the second material at all of the other thin-film thermoelectric element locations for each thin-film thermoelectric element location;
• and
• electrically coupling a plurality of thin-film thermoelectric elements in parallel, wherein each respective thin-film thermoelectric element of the plurality of thin-film thermoelectric elements is at a respective one of the plurality of thin-film thermoelectric element locations, and each respective thin-film thermoelectric element includes the respective layer of the first material and the respective layer of the second material at the respective thin-film thermoelectric element location.

A method of manufacturing a thermoelectric device having a plurality of thin-film thermoelectric elements, comprising:

• forming a respective opening in a first surface of a generally planar substrate at a first plurality of thin-film thermoelectric element locations;
• at least partially filling each respective opening with a layer of a first material of a respective thin-film thermoelectric element, the first material is one of a Seebeck effect material or a first electrically conductive non-Seebeck effect material;
• providing a layer of a second material of a respective thin-film thermoelectric element material at each one of the first plurality of thin-film thermoelectric element locations, the second material is the first electrically conductive non-Seebeck effect material when the first material is the Seebeck effect material, or the second material is the Seebeck effect material when the first material is the first electrically conductive non-Seebeck effect material, wherein a respective thin-film thermoelectric element comprises the first material and the second material at the respective thin-film thermoelectric element location of the respective thin-film thermoelectric element;
• providing a layer of a second electrically conductive non-Seebeck effect material that physically couples the first plurality of thin-film thermoelectric elements together, the second electrically conductive non-Seebeck effect material physically connected to a respective bottom surface of each thin-film thermoelectric element of the first plurality of thin-film thermoelectric elements;
• and
• providing a layer of a third electrically conductive non-Seebeck effect material that physically couples the first plurality of thin-film thermoelectric elements together, the third electrically conductive non-Seebeck effect material physically connected to a respective top surface of each thin-film thermoelectric element of the first plurality of thin-film thermoelectric elements.