Fabrication of a thermoelectric generator on a polymer-coated substrate via laser-induced forward transfer of chalcogenide thin films

Abstract

We have demonstrated the fabrication of a thermoelectric energy harvesting device via laser-induced forward transfer of intact solid thin films. Thermoelectric chalcogenide materials, namely bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3), bismuth selenide (Bi2Se3) and bismuth antimony telluride (Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3), were sequentially printed using a nanosecond excimer laser onto an elastomeric polydimethylsiloxane-coated glass substrate to form thermocouples connected in series creating a thermoelectric generator. The resulting generator Seebeck coefficient and series resistance per leg pair were measured to be 0.17 mV K−1 and 10 kΩ respectively. It was shown that laser-induced forward transfer allows device fabrication from inorganic semiconductor compounds on inexpensive elastic polymer substrates and demonstrates the ability to print materials with pre-defined thermoelectric properties. This allows the rapid manufacturing of a complete thermoelectric device on mm2-areas with μm-scale precision, without the need of further lithographic steps.

Microcapacitors with controlled electrical capacity in the pF–nF range printed by laser-induced forward transfer (LIFT)

“…Thus, for the second step of printing the capacitor pixels, LIFT experiments were performed in low pressure (100 mbar), to protect the pixels during the transfer by reducing the air resistance and hence the shock wave intensity [12,[37][38][39][40][41]. As previously mentioned, the dimension of the printed capacitor can be tuned as needed, by adjusting the size of the laser beam at the donor surface [6,7,15,[41][42][43], to fit correctly the size of the different pads.…”

“…The dielectric film's shape and dimension (lateral size) can be varied at will through the LIFT technique and/or initial thin film growth. Pixels size can range from tens of lm 2 and up to mm 2 just by controlling their lateral resolution during printing: the feasibility of printing 15 mm 2 pixels was successfully demonstrated by Feinaeugle et al [7].…”

“…A laser beam is focused on the donor to precisely cut and print pixels or droplets of the thin films/functional material(s), in any desired pattern. The laser transfer of organic and inorganic materials, in solid or liquid form, has already been thoroughly investigated and discussed in literature [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. The pixel size can be varied as needed [6], in the range of a few lm to a few mm [7], to control the lateral resolution of the formed structures.…”

Functional multilayered capacitor pixels printed by picosecond laser-induced forward transfer using a smart beam shaping technique

“…Pixel size can range from tens of μm² and up to mm² just by controlling their lateral resolution during printing. The feasibility of printing 15 mm² pixels was successfully demonstrated by Feinaeugle et al [13].…”

“…LIFT is a non-contact method that allows printing of sensitive materials on a large variety of substrates, and was already demonstrated in various applications and/or devices, such as light-emitting diodes, transistors, sensors, conducting lines, and even living cells [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. For the printing of pixels in solid phase, a thin layer or sandwich structure (the donor) deposited onto a transparent substrate is irradiated by using a pulsed laser.…”