Investigations of the Thermoelectric-Photoelectric Integrated Power Generator with I-shaped Thermocouple Structure and Its Test Structures

This work proposes the investigations of the thermoelectric-photoelectric integrated power generator with I-shaped thermocouple structure and its test structures. Integrated generator material parameters include resistivity, contact resistance, and Seebeck coefficient. They have a significant impact on the performance of thermoelectric devices. Output power per area reflects the thermoelectric performance of the polysilicon. In order to analyze the error of the test results, we designed the corresponding material parameter test structures to characterize the resistivity, contact resistance, and Seebeck coefficient of polysilicon. The maximum power factor of the thermoelectric output is $1.14\times 10^{-2} \,\, \mu $ Wcm−2K−2 in simulation. In the thermoelectric performance test, the maximum power factor is $7.81\times 10^{-3} \,\, \mu $ Wcm−2K−2. It is lower than the simulation. By analysis of the simulation and experiment of the test structure, the error is caused by fabrication error. In the photoelectric performance test, the open-circuit voltage of the integrated generator is 0.552 V. The short circuit current of the integrated generator is 4.32 mA.