Nanoscopic thermoelectric coolers
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorUttam Shyamalindu Ghoshal
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Thermoelectric cooler for providing sub-ambient cooling and method of fabricating same. In one form, sub-micron thermoelectric coolers are formed using doped thin films as thermoelectric elements. The thin film thermoelectric elements are created on thermally and electrical isolating materials using an electrochemical deposition process with a junction formed between the thermoelectric elements. The sub-micron thermoelectric coolers can then be used to locally cool nanoscopic geometric regions such as regions of an integrated circuit or can be configured in an array for large scale microscopic cooling applications.
Claims21
A thermoelectric cooling apparatus comprising:
- a first thermoelectric cooling element;
- a second thermoelectric cooling element;
- and
- a junction coupled between said first and second thermoelectric cooling elements defining a localized region of cooling having a geometry of less than one micron.
A thermoelectric cooling apparatus comprising:
- a first thermoelectric cooling element;
- a second thermoelectric cooling element;
- and
- a junction coupled between said first and second thermoelectric cooling elements having a geometry of less than one micron and composed of at least one carbon nanotube coupled to limit thermal, but not electrical, conduction between said first and second thermal cooling elements.
A method of fabricating a thermoelectric cooling apparatus comprising the steps of:
- forming a first thermoelectric cooling element having a contact region;
- forming a second thermoelectric cooling element having a contact region;
- and
- forming a junction coupling the first and second thermoelectric cooling elements defining a localized region of cooling having a geometry of less than one micron.
A method of fabricating a thermoelectric cooling apparatus comprising the steps of:
- forming a first thermoelectric cooling element having a contact region;
- forming a second thermoelectric element having a contact region;
- and
- forming a junction coupling the first and second thermoelectric cooling elements having a geometry of less than one micron and composed of at least one carbon nanotube coupled to limit thermal, but not electrical, conduction between said first and second thermal cooling elements.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.