Thermoelectric Devices by Half-Millimeter-Long Silicon Nanowires Arrays

Waste heat scavenging and IC hot spot cooling have been important topics of investigation for many decades. In this study, a novel sub-millimeter silicide/Si nanowires/Ag paste thermoelectric device is fabricated and its thermoelectric properties from 25 to 200 °C are studied. Polyimide packaging between the nanowires was used to enhance the mechanical strength of the device. The figure of merit of n-type and p-type device reached ∼0.25 and 0.21 at 200 °C, respectively, demonstrating 5 times enhancement on the ZT value compared with Si. Our experimental results prove that this method provides a cost-effective approach to fabricate thermoelectric nanodevices for future thermoelectric applications without traditional powder milling and sintering processes.