Effect of metal heat guide structure on the performance of planar Si thermoelectric generator embedded in SiO 2 inter-layer dielectric

Heat guide (HG) is a layer providing a heat flux to the desired part in a micro thermoelectric generator ( μ -TEG). In this work, we experimentally investigated the impact of the HG structure on the thermoelectric voltage of a cavity-free planer-type Si-nanowire (Si-NW) μ -TEG, which is embedded in SiO 2 acting as an inter-layer dielectric (ILD). Although the heat flows also through the ILD, a sub- μ m-thick HG is able to selectively guide the heat flux to the hot side terminal of the μ -TEG, and the μ -TEG performance is improved by increasing the thickness of the HG.