Potential-Seebeck-microprobe (PSM): measuring the spatial resolution of the Seebeck coefficient and the electric potential

Platzek, D.; Karpinski, G.; Stiewe, Christian; Ziółkowski, Pawel; Drašar, Č.; Müller, Eckhard

doi:10.1109/ict.2005.1519875

Cited by 38 publications

(47 citation statements)

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“…2. The Seebeck coefficient of a FeSb 3 film with a thickness of 1.5 µm was determined at room temperature using a Seebeck Microprobe 25,26 . The spatial resolution of the microprobe is of the order of tens of micrometers.…”

Section: B Experimental Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermoelectric properties of the unfilled skutteruditeFeSb3from first principles and Seebeck local probes

et al. 2015

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Section: B Experimental Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermoelectric properties of the unfilled skutteruditeFeSb3from first principles and Seebeck local probes

et al. 2015

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“…38 Instead, spatially resolved scanning Seebeck coefficient measurements [38][39][40][41] (e.g. PSM from Panco Gmbh, Germany) can detect these variations and thus provide an important complementary technique for establishing homogeneity and quality control of bulk materials.…”

Section: -37mentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring thermoelectric transport properties of materials

Borup

Boor

Wang

et al. 2015

Energy Environ. Sci.

306

256

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In this review we discuss considerations regarding the common techniques used for measuring thermoelectric transport properties necessary for calculating the thermoelectric figure of merit, zT.Advice for improving the data quality in Seebeck coefficient, electrical resistivity, and thermal conductivity (from flash diffusivity and heat capacity) measurements are given together with methods for identifying possible erroneous data. Measurement of the Hall coefficient and calculation of the charge carrier concentration and mobility is also included due to its importance for understanding materials. It is not intended to be a complete record or comparison of all the different techniques employed in thermoelectrics. Rather, by providing an overview of common techniques and their inherent difficulties it is an aid to new researchers or students in the field. The focus is mainly on high temperature measurements but low temperature techniques are also briefly discussed. Measurement guide for authors and reviewersMeasurements should always be repeatable on the same sample, and on new samples produced in the manner described. Thermoelectric effects are steady-state effects so any time dependence or hysteresis is indication that phenomena outside thermoelectric effects are at play. Materials with chemical oxidants/ reductants incorporated are likely to contain unstable internal voltages not due to thermoelectric effects. Unconventional samples or measurement methods deserve reexamination of assumptions. AccuracyTrue accuracy is not represented by a single heating curve from one sample, even with error bars representing instrument precision. Showing heating and cooling data and multiple samples gives a better indication of measurement variability for a typical type of sample. Anisotropy, cracks and inhomogeneities can lead to large variation in measurements. One unusual data point or sample outside the trend, particularly at temperatures just prior to decomposition, usually indicates a problem in sample or measurement. Unusual resultsTypical thermoelectric materials behave like heavily doped semiconductors with thermopower (absolute value of Seebeck coefficient) of less than 300 mV K À1 , resistivity of 0.1-10 mU cm, and are optimized when electronic contribution to the thermal conductivity is about 1/2 the total thermal conductivity. Extraordinary results should be checked by extra means. Unusual results can be caused by bad contacts, thermocouples that have broken, chemically reacted, or simply dried out of calibration. Exceptional resultsReported values of zT > 1 or in unexpected materials receive extra attention from reviewers who may ask for additional conrmation. Convincing measurements may need to be performed on the same sample along the same direction and be repeatable with other samples and measurement methods. There is no official record keeping for claimed or veried zT values. Several papers, patents and press releases have claimed extraordinarily high zT but most have been forgotten over time and likely resul...

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“…Wu et al (11) found that the spatial resolution limitation of the PSM apparatus is about 20-50 µm and depends on the thermal conductivity of the thermoelectric material; in the other words, the local Seebeck coefficient of inhomogeneity are not effective to be measured by the PSM apparatus when the dimensions of an inhomogeneity are smaller than 20 µm. The reported spatial resolution of the PSM apparatus is 10 µm, depending on the thermal conductivity of the thermoelectric sample (8)(9)(10) . However, it has not been shown how to obtain the spatial resolution limitation of the PSM using actual measurements.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The dependence of the spatial resolution of the PSM apparatus for measuring the local Seebeck coefficient on the probe tip size, heating time, and thermal conductivity of the examined material is also investigated. In this study, the PSM apparatus (8)(9)(10)(11)(13)(14) , which comprises a heated microprobe and two thermocouples, is used to measure the local Seebeck coefficient of a sample (as shown in Fig. 2).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The differential method is usually used to measure the Seebeck coefficient at high and low temperatures where there is a small temperature difference and for samples with small dimensions (7) . An apparatus called a potential Seebeck microprobe (PSM) can be used to measure the local Seebeck coefficients on macro and micro scales even for thermoelectric materials with relatively small inhomogeneity (8) .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Numerical Simulations of Thermoelectric Materials for Local Seebeck Coefficient Measurements by a Heated Microprobe

Huang

Hung

2011

JTST

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This paper presents numerical simulations of thermoelectric materials for local Seebeck coefficient measurements by a heated microprobe. The Galerkin finite element method is used to solve the governing equations with boundary conditions to obtain temperature and induced thermoelectric voltage distributions. The measured local Seebeck coefficients obtained from the potential Seebeck microprobe (PSM) model and the simplified PSM model are compared; the influence of probe tip size and heating time is investigated. A method is proposed for obtaining the spatial resolution of the PSM apparatus by increasing inhomogeneity size gradually. The simulation results indicate that the simplified PSM model can be efficiently used to simulate the local Seebeck coefficient measurements by the PSM apparatus. The temperature distribution is similar to the voltage distribution for homogeneous thermoelectric material but is different from the distorted voltage distribution for thermoelectric material with inhomogeneity. The spatial resolution of the PSM apparatus increases with decreasing probe tip size, heating time, and thermal conductivity of the thermoelectric material.

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Potential-Seebeck-microprobe (PSM): measuring the spatial resolution of the Seebeck coefficient and the electric potential

Cited by 38 publications

References 1 publication

Thermoelectric properties of the unfilled skutteruditeFeSb3from first principles and Seebeck local probes

Thermoelectric properties of the unfilled skutteruditeFeSb3from first principles and Seebeck local probes

Measuring thermoelectric transport properties of materials

Numerical Simulations of Thermoelectric Materials for Local Seebeck Coefficient Measurements by a Heated Microprobe

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