Integrated thin film thermoelectric cooler

The possibility of fabricating thermoelectric coolers using thin film deposition and micromachining is investigated. The processing sequences described facilitate fabrication of the thermoelectric cooler and electronic components, such as laser diodes, CCD and infrared detectors, as elements of an integrated circuit. Theoretical calculations based on the proposed thin film thermoelectric cooler indicate that a maximum temperature difference of ~40-50 K can be obtained with a maximum pumping capacity of around a few milliwatts