Estimation of the electrical and thermal contact resistances and thermoemf of thermoelectric material-metal transient contact layer due to semiconductor surface rougness

TL;DR

This paper theoretically investigates how semiconductor surface roughness affects electrical and thermal contact resistances and thermoEMF in thermoelectric material-metal contacts, using Gaussian distribution modeling.

Contribution

It introduces a theoretical model that accounts for surface roughness effects on contact properties in thermoelectric devices.

Findings

Surface roughness significantly influences contact resistance and thermoEMF.

Gaussian distribution parameters affect the distribution of contact properties.

The model provides insights for optimizing thermoelectric contact interfaces.

Abstract

The impact of semiconductor surface roughness on the electrical and thermal contact resistances and thermoEMF of thermoelectric material (TEM)-metal transient contact layer is studied theoretically. The distribution of hollows and humps on the rough surface is simulated by the truncated Gaussian distribution. The impact of distribution parameters on the electrical contact resistance and thermoEMF of thermoelectric material-metal contact is studied.