A thermopile is an electronic device that converts thermal energy into electrical energy by means of arrangements of thermocouples that are connected in series. In addition, optical filters restrict the wavelength that strikes the thermopile. One of the main advantages of using a thermopile is its sensitivity to infrared radiation, which allows implementing non-contact thermometers. However, th...

This paper presents a polycrystalline silicon germanium (poly-SiGe) thermopile specially designed for thermoelectric generators used on human body. Both the design of the single thermocouple and the arrangement of the thermocouple array have been described. A rim structure has been introduced in order to increase the temperature difference across the thermocouple junctions. The modeling of the ...

Thermopile detectors are widely used in uncooled applications where small numbers of detectors are required, particularly in low-cost commercial applications or applications requiring accurate radiometry. Arrays of thermopile detectors, however, have not been developed to the extent of uncooled bolometer and pyroelectric/ferroelectric arrays. Efforts at JPL seek to remedy this deficiency by dev...

A highly sensitive infrared (IR) detector requires a large absorption area and a low thermal conductance to maximize the temperature change and signal induced by the incident IR radiation. For the floating membrane of a microsensor, it is difficult to form a large area with suitable front-side etching windows at the same time. A new idea of improving complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMO...

A stacked double-layer (SDL) thermopile-based infrared sensor, which comprised of 96 thermocouples on a suspended membrane, has been designed and fabricated with a CMOS-compatible process. The thermoelectric properties were characterized, and responsivity (Rs) of 202.8 V W−1 and detectivity (D∗) of 2.85∗108 cm Hz1/2 W−1 for a SDL thermopile were derived. (Some figures may appear in colour only ...

Detection peculiarities of an un-cooled (room temperature) 8×8 pixel array designed to image broadband THz radiation were investigated. Each pixel consists of a thin conductive film absorber on a dielectric membrane with thermopile temperature readout. It was designed and tested for four combinations of two different types of absorber and thermopile materials. The photo-response profile, determ...

Thermoelectric effects in spintronics are gathering increasing attention as a means of managing heat in nanoscale structures and of controlling spin information by using heat flow. Thermal magnons (spin-wave quanta) are expected to play a major role; however, little is known about the underlying physical mechanisms involved. The reason is the lack of information about magnon interactions and of...