Manufacturing method of thermoelectric converter

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9553250-B2
Application number	US-201415031559-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 1, 2014
Priority date	Oct 25, 2013
Publication date	Jan 24, 2017
Grant date	Jan 24, 2017

Abstract

An insulating substrate to which intermediate portions or conductive pastes constituting the intermediate portions are disposed, a front surface protective member to which front surface patterns are formed, and a back surface protective member to which back surface patterns are formed are prepared. A laminated body, to which first end portions or conductive pastes constituting the first end portions are disposed between the intermediate portions or the conductive pastes constituting the intermediate portions and the front surface patterns, and second end portions or conductive pastes constituting the second end portions are disposed between the intermediate portions or the conductive pastes constituting the intermediate portions and the back surface patterns, is constituted. Then, thermoelectric conversion elements are formed by integrating the laminated body.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for manufacturing a thermoelectric converter that has an insulated substrate to which a plurality of thermoelectric conversion elements are disposed;
a surface protecting member disposed on a front surface of the insulating substrate and formed with front surface patterns that are electrically connected to predetermined thermoelectric conversion elements; and
a back protective member disposed on a back surface opposite to the front surface of the insulating substrate and formed with back surface patterns that are electrically connected to the predetermined thermoelectric conversion elements; wherein,
each of the thermoelectric conversion elements has a first end portion connected to the front surface pattern, a second end portion connected to the back surface pattern, and an intermediate portion that connects the first end portion and the second end portion; and
the thermoelectric conversion element of which sectional areas of the first and the second end portions in a direction parallel to a plane direction of the insulating substrate are configured to be larger than sectional areas of intermediate portions, the method comprising:
a process of preparing the insulating substrate to which a plurality of via holes penetrating through in a thickness direction are formed, and the intermediate portion or a conductive paste constituting the intermediate portion is disposed in the via holes;
a process of preparing the front surface protective member to which the front surface patterns are formed;
a process of preparing the back surface protective member to which the back surface patterns are formed;
a process of constituting a laminated body by disposing the front surface protecting member on the front surface of the insulating substrate and disposing the back surface protective member on the back surface of the insulating substrate; and
a process of integrating the laminated body; wherein,
the first end portion or a conductive paste constituting the first end portion is disposed between the intermediate portion or the conductive paste constituting the intermediate portion and the front surface pattern, and the second end portion or a conductive paste constituting the second end portion is disposed between the intermediate portion or the conductive paste constituting the intermediate portion and the back surface pattern to constitute the laminated body in the process of constituting the laminated body; and
the thermoelectric conversion element having the first and the second end portion and the intermediate portion is formed by applying pressure in a laminating direction while heating to the laminated body in the process of integrating the laminated body.

2. The manufacturing method of the thermoelectric converter according to claim 1 , wherein,
the via holes filled with the conductive pastes are prepared in the process of preparing the insulating substrate;
the front surface patterns on which the conductive pastes are disposed are prepared in the process of preparing the front surface protective member;
the back surface patterns on which the conductive pastes are disposed are prepared in the process of preparing the back surface protective member;
the front surface protective member is disposed on the front surface of the insulating substrate such that the conductive pastes disposed on the front surface patterns and the conductive paste filled in the via holes are in contact in the process of forming the laminated body;
the back surface protective member is disposed on the back surface of the insulating substrate such that the conductive pastes disposed on the back surface patterns and the conductive paste filled in the via holes are in contact in the process of forming the laminated body; and
the thermoelectric conversion element having the first end portion, the second end portion, and the intermediate portion is constituted by sintering the conductive paste disposed between the conductive paste filled in the via holes and the front surface patterns, the conductive paste disposed between the conductive paste filled in the via holes and the back surface patterns, and the conductive paste filled in the via holes, and by forming the first end portion from the conductive paste disposed between the conductive paste filled in the via holes and the front surface patterns, the second end portion from the conductive paste disposed between the conductive paste filled in the via holes and the back surface patterns, and the intermediate portion from the conductive paste filled in the via holes in the process of integrating the laminated body.

3. The manufacturing method of the thermoelectric converter according to claim 2 , wherein,
an alloy metal powder in paste form in which a plurality of metal atoms maintain a predetermined crystal structure after an addition of an organic solvent is used as the conductive paste; and
a sintered alloy sintered in a state where the plurality of the metal atoms maintain the predetermined crystal structure of the metal atoms is formed as the thermoelectric conversion elements in the process of integrating the laminated body.

4. The manufacturing method of the thermoelectric converter according to claim 1 , wherein,
the process of preparing the insulating substrate includes a process of filling the conductive paste into the via holes, a process of further disposing the conductive paste on the conductive paste filled in the via holes in the front surface side of the insulating substrate, and a process of further disposing the conductive paste on the conductive paste filled in the via holes in the back surface side of the insulating substrate;
the front surface protective member is disposed on the front surface of the insulating substrate such that the conductive paste further disposed on the conductive paste filled in the via holes and the front surface patterns are in contact, and the back surface protective member is disposed on the back surface of the insulating substrate such that the conductive paste further disposed on the conductive paste filled in the via holes and the back surface patterns are in contact in the process of constituting the laminated body; and
the thermoelectric conversion element having the first end portion, the second end portion, and the intermediate portion is constituted by sintering the conductive paste disposed between the conductive paste filled in the via holes and the front surface patterns, the conductive paste disposed between the conductive paste filled in the via holes and the back surface patterns, and the conductive paste filled in the via holes, and by forming the first end portion from the conductive paste disposed between the conductive paste filled in the via holes and the front surface patterns, the second end portion from the conductive paste disposed between the conductive paste filled in the via holes and the back surface patterns, and the intermediate portion from the conductive paste filled in the via holes in the process of integrating the laminated body.

5. The manufacturing method of the thermoelectric converter according to claim 4 , wherein,
an alloy metal powder in paste form in which a plurality of metal atoms maintain a predetermined crystal structure after an addition of an organic solvent is used as the conductive paste; and
a sintered alloy sintered in a state where the plurality of the metal atoms maintain the predetermined crystal structure of the metal atoms is formed as the thermoelectric conversion elements in the process of integrating the laminated body.

6. A method for manufacturing a thermoelectric converter that has an insulated substrate to which a plurality of thermoelectric conversion elements are disposed;
a surface protecting member disposed on a fron

Assignees

• Denso Corp

Inventors

• Gouko Norio
• Sakaida Atusi
• Taniguchi Toshihisa
• Shiraishi Yoshihiko
• Okamoto Keiji

Classifications

• H10P14/3248

  consisting of two layers · CPC title

• H10P14/3241

  being conductive materials · CPC title

• H10W70/095

  of vias therein · CPC title

• H01L21/02502

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L21/486

  Electricity · mapped topic