Mono-metallic thermocouples

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9577173-B2
Application number	US-201414280242-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 16, 2014
Priority date	May 16, 2013
Publication date	Feb 21, 2017
Grant date	Feb 21, 2017

Abstract

Nanoscale thermocouples are made of a single material and are shape-engineered to contain one or more variations in their width along their length. The mono-metallic nanowire junctions resulting from the width variation(s) exploit a difference in the Seebeck coefficient that is present at these size scales. Such devices have a wide variety of uses and can be coupled with an antenna in order to serve as an infrared detector.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A thermocouple assembly, comprising:
a mono-metallic nanowire made of a single conductive material having a length and at least one variation in a cross-sectional area along the length;
wherein the at least one variation in the cross-sectional area along the length provides a junction point that is intermediate first and second segments of the mono-metallic nanowire and wherein the junction point and the first and second segments of the mono-metallic nanowire form a thermocouple,
wherein the first and second segments of the mono-metallic nanowire have a different width leading to the junction point and wherein the width of the first and second segments of the mono-metallic nanowire are each less than 1 μm, and
wherein a third segment of the mono-metallic nanowire, wherein the third segment has the same width as the first segment, and the second segment is intermediate the first and third segments.

2. The thermocouple assembly as recited in claim 1 , wherein the width of the first segment and the width of the second segment differ by more than about 50 nm and less than about 500 nm.

3. The thermocouple assembly as recited in claim 2 , wherein the cross-sectional area of the first segment and the cross-sectional area of the second segment differ by a ratio that is in a range between about 6.0 and about 1.0.

4. The thermocouple assembly as recited in claim 1 , wherein the at least one variation in the cross-sectional area is provided by a discontinuity in the mono-metallic nanowire.

5. The thermocouple assembly as recited in claim 1 , wherein the single conductive material is selected from a group consisting of nickel, palladium, and chromium.

6. The thermocouple assembly as recited in claim 1 , comprising a substrate carrying the thermocouple.

7. An antenna-coupled thermocouple assembly, comprising:
a mono-metallic nanowire made of a single conductive material having a length and at least one variation in a cross-sectional area along the length; and
an antenna co-located with the mono-metallic nanowire along the length;
wherein the at least one variation in the cross-section area along the length provides a junction point that is intermediate first and second segments of the mono-metallic nanowire and wherein the junction point and the first and second segments of the mono-metallic nanowire form a thermocouple,
wherein the first and second segments of the mono-metallic nanowire have a different width leading to the junction point and wherein the width of the first and second segments of the mono-metallic nanowire are each less than 1 μm, and
wherein a third segment of the mono-metallic nanowire, wherein the third segment has the same width as the first segment, and the second segment is intermediate the first and third segments.

8. The antenna-coupled thermocouple assembly as recited in claim 7 , wherein antenna is co-located with the mono-metallic nanowire at the at least one variation in the cross-sectional area along the length.

9. The antenna-coupled thermocouple assembly as recited in claim 8 , wherein the antenna is centered about the at least one variation in the cross-sectional area along the length.

10. The antenna-coupled thermocouple assembly as recited in claim 7 , wherein the width of the first segment and the width of the second segment differ by more than about 50 nm and less than about 500 nm.

11. The antenna-coupled thermocouple assembly as recited in claim 10 , wherein the cross-sectional area of the first segment and the cross-sectional area of the second segment differ by a ratio that is in a range between about 6.0 and about 1.0.

12. The antenna-based thermocouple assembly as recited in claim 7 , wherein the at least one variation in the cross-sectional area is provided by a discontinuity in the mono-metallic nanowire.

13. The antenna-based thermocouple assembly as recited in claim 8 , wherein the single conductive material is selected from a group consisting of nickel, palladium, and chromium.

14. The thermocouple assembly as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
an antenna co-located with the mono-metallic nanowire along the length whereby, in response to the antenna receiving a radiative energy the thermocouple will be caused to generate a voltage signal.

15. The thermocouple assembly as recited in claim 14 , wherein the antenna is co-located at the variation in the cross-sectional area along the length.

16. The thermocouple assembly as recited in claim 15 , wherein the antenna is co-located proximate the variation in the cross-sectional area along the length.

17. The thermocouple assembly as recited in claim 14 , wherein the antenna is tuned to detect a desired radiative energy.

18. The thermocouple assembly as recited in claim 14 , wherein the single conductive material is selected from a group consisting of nickel, palladium, and chromium.

19. The thermocouple assembly as recited in claim 1 , wherein the first and third segments have a width of about 150 nm and the second segment has a width of about 50 nm.

20. The thermocouple assembly as recited in claim 1 , wherein the mono-metallic nanowire has a thickness of a single layer of metal.

21. The thermocouple assembly as recited in claim 20 , wherein the thickness of the single layer of metal is formed by a single metal deposition.

22. The thermocouple assembly as recited in claim 1 , wherein the width is controlled by electron-beam lithography.

23. The thermocouple assembly as recited in claim 14 , wherein the antenna is formed of the same material as the mono-metallic nanowire.

Assignees

• Univ Notre Dame Du Lac

Inventors

• Porod Wolfgang
• Bernstein Gary H
• Orlov Alexei
• Szakmany Gergo P

Classifications

• H01L35/32 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• G01J5/12 Primary

  using thermoelectric elements, e.g. thermocouples · CPC title

• B82Y30/00

  Nanotechnology for materials or surface science, e.g. nanocomposites · CPC title

• G01J2005/123

  Thermoelectric array · CPC title

• H10N10/17 Primary

  characterised by the structure or configuration of the cell or thermocouple forming the device · CPC title