Laird Technologies recently published a handbook on thin film thermoelectric modules (TFMs). The book provides an in-depth insight into the advantages of TFM’s over traditional bulk technology. It also covers the basic structure and function of TFMs, system level considerations required for device selection and thermal management design. The title of the publication is Thin Film Thermoelectric Handbook.
The Thin Film Thermoelectric Handbook is a tutorial that educates design engineers on the proper design and installation of thin film modules and helps to avoid common errors that can reduce operational life or limit output performance attributes of a module. The book is ideal for engineers with novice to intermediate thermoelectric experience.
Thin Film Thermoelectric Handbook Features
As components, packages and systems continue to shrink in size, the heat generated in these dense electronic systems can be quite large and can lead to a significant rise in temperatures that in turn can cause device and system-level failures.
Heat has always been an issue for system designers, but only recently has the problem become so severe that thermal management solutions can no longer be introduced as an afterthought. Thermal management must be considered from the beginning of the design process in order to avoid causing severe problems at the system level. This is an important consideration because at the system level, the thermal operating space is more limited (i.e. the temperatures that can be tolerated) and any solution employed at the system is likely to be more expensive than one implemented at the chip level.
A new approach to thermal management involves embedding thermal management functionality deep inside an electronic component at the source of the heat using thin film thermoelectric devices.
More info: Thin Film Thermoelectric Handbook (pdf)