InP-based thermionic coolers

Author

Shakouri, Ali ; LaBounty, Chris ; Abraham, Patrick ; Piprek, Joachim ; Bowers, John E.

Author_Institution

Sch. of Eng., California Univ., Santa Cruz, CA, USA

fYear

1999

fDate

1999

Firstpage

463

Lastpage

465

Abstract

Thermoelectric coolers are important elements of many optoelectronic systems. Current commercial coolers are based on non-conventional semiconductors such as BiTe. In this paper we analyze the prospect of InP based material to fabricate coolers that can be integrated with optoelectronic components. Experimental results are shown where thermionic emission current in InGaAs/InGaAsP heterostructures is used to enhance the cooling power of conventional bulk material. About one degree cooling over 1 μm thick barrier is observed (i.e. a cooling power of 200-300 W/cm²). Calculations for InGaAs/InAlAs superlattices show that single stage cooling by as much as 20-30 degrees should be possible

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; gallium arsenide; gallium compounds; indium compounds; integrated optoelectronics; semiconductor device packaging; semiconductor superlattices; thermionic electron emission; thermoelectricity; InAlAs; InGaAs; InGaAs/InAlAs superlattices; InGaAs/InGaAsP heterostructures; InGaAsP; InP-based thermionic coolers; cooling power; integrated optoelectronic components; optoelectronic systems; single stage cooling; thermionic emission current; thermoelectric coolers; Anodes; Cathodes; Conducting materials; Cooling; Heat sinks; Tellurium; Temperature; Thermal conductivity; Thermionic emission; Thermoelectricity;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Indium Phosphide and Related Materials, 1999. IPRM. 1999 Eleventh International Conference on

Conference_Location

Davos

ISSN

1092-8669

Print_ISBN

0-7803-5562-8

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICIPRM.1999.773733

Filename

773733