Thermoelectric module and manufacturing method thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10608156-B2
Application number	US-201615548061-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 21, 2016
Priority date	Jul 21, 2015
Publication date	Mar 31, 2020
Grant date	Mar 31, 2020

Abstract

The present disclosure discloses a thermoelectric module to which a bonding technique for stably driving the thermoelectric module at high temperatures is applied and a method of manufacturing the thermoelectric module. The thermoelectric module according to the present disclosure includes thermoelectric elements including a thermoelectric semiconductor, an electrode which includes a metal material and is connected between the thermoelectric elements, and a bonding layer which is interposed between the thermoelectric element and the electrode to bond the thermoelectric element with the electrode and includes a metal compound including metals of two or more classes as a sintered body of a paste including metal powders of two or more classes.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A thermoelectric module comprising:
a plurality of thermoelectric elements comprising a thermoelectric semiconductor;
an electrode which comprises a metal material and is connected between thermoelectric elements; and
a bonding layer which is interposed between the thermoelectric element and the electrode to bond thermoelectric elements with the electrode and comprises a metal compound comprising at least 80% by weight of Ni and Sn as a sintered body of a paste,
wherein Ni and Sn are included in the bonding layer at a ratio of (15−50):(85−50), and
wherein the sintered body has a porosity, and the porosity is 5% or less,
wherein the metal compound is formed at a temperature of about 300° C. or higher, and
wherein the only metal particles in the paste are Ni particles and Sn particles.

2. The thermoelectric module of claim 1 , wherein the bonding layer is formed in such a way that a paste comprising the metal powders of two or more classes is sintered in a transient liquid phase sintering (TLPS) manner and the metal powders of two or more classes are transformed into the metal compound.

3. The thermoelectric module of claim 1 , wherein the thermoelectric element comprises a skutterudite-based thermoelectric semiconductor.

4. The thermoelectric module of claim 1 , further comprising a metallized layer which comprises metal, an alloy, or a metal compound and is interposed between the thermoelectric element and the bonding layer.

5. The thermoelectric module of claim 4 , wherein the metallized layer is formed by stacking of two or more different layers.

6. The thermoelectric module of claim 1 , further comprising a NiP layer between the bonding layer and the electrode.

7. A thermoelectric power-generation device comprising the thermoelectric module according to claim 1 .

8. A method of manufacturing a thermoelectric module, the method comprising:
providing a plurality of thermoelectric elements comprising a thermoelectric semiconductor and a plurality of electrodes comprising a metal material;
interposing a paste comprising at least 80% by weight of Sn and Ni between the thermoelectric element and the electrode, wherein Ni particles and Sn particles are included in the bonding layer at a ratio of (15−50):(85−50); and
sintering the paste in a transient liquid phase sintering (TLPS) manner at a temperature of about 300° C. or higher,
wherein the sintered body has a porosity, and the porosity is 5% or less.

9. The thermoelectric module of claim 1 , wherein the bonding layer comprises at least 90% by weight of Ni and Sn.

10. The thermoelectric module of claim 1 , wherein Ni and Sn are included in the bonding layer at a ratio of (20−40):(80−60).

11. The thermoelectric module of claim 1 , wherein Ni and Sn are included in the bonding layer at a ratio of (25−35):(75−65).

12. The thermoelectric module of claim 1 , wherein a shear strength of the bonding layer is from 10 MPa to 60 MPa.

13. The method of claim 8 , wherein a shear strength of the bonding layer is from 10 MPa to 60 MPa.

Assignees

• Lg Chemical Ltd

Inventors

• Lee Dae-Ki
• Kim Dong-Sik
• Park Ye-Rok
• Lee Jae-Ki
• Lim Byung-Kyu
• Choi Hyun-Woo
• Park Cheol-Hee
• Lee Seung-Hyup

Classifications

• H01L35/18

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L35/08

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L35/14

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L35/32

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L35/04 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic