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Multiscale Design of Nanostructured Thermoelectric Coolers: Effects of Contact Resistances

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Abstract

Our objective is to develop a multiscale simulator for thermoelectric cooler devices, in which the material parameters are obtained atomistically using a combination of molecular dynamics and tight-binding simulations and then used in the system level design. After benchmarking the simulator against a recent experimental work, we carry out a detailed numerical investigation of the performance of Bi2Te3 nanowire-based thermoelectric devices for hot-spot cooling. The results suggest that active hotspot cooling of as much as 23°C with a high heat flux is achievable using such low-dimensionality structures. However, it has been observed that thermal and electrical contact resistances, which are quite large in nanostructures, play a critical role in determining the cooling range and lead to significant performance degradation that must be addressed before these devices can be deployed in such applications.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, 1230 Lincoln Drive, Carbondale, IL, 62901, USA

    Afsana Sharmin, Mohammad Rashid, Vamsi Gaddipati, Abu Sadeque & Shaikh Ahmed

  2. Materials Technology Center, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, 1230 Lincoln Drive, Carbondale, IL, 62901, USA

    Shaikh Ahmed

Authors
  1. Afsana Sharmin
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  2. Mohammad Rashid
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  3. Vamsi Gaddipati
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  4. Abu Sadeque
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  5. Shaikh Ahmed
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Correspondence to Shaikh Ahmed.

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Sharmin, A., Rashid, M., Gaddipati, V. et al. Multiscale Design of Nanostructured Thermoelectric Coolers: Effects of Contact Resistances. J. Electron. Mater. 44, 1697–1703 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-014-3520-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-014-3520-8

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