THERMOELECTRIC ELEMENT

A thermoelectric element having high thermal resistance and requiring less semiconductor material than a conventional thermoelectric element with comparable performance comprises a substrate having a substrate front side and a substrate rear side opposite the substrate front side, a first contact, applied as a layer to the substrate front side, a second contact, applied as a layer to the substrate front side, a cut-off between the first and second contact which thermally and electrically separates the first and second contact from one another, and a thermoelectrically active layer having a top side and a bottom side, which are connected to one another by lateral delimiting surfaces, wherein the thermoelectrically active layer is arranged in the cut-off in such a way that the bottom side is on the substrate front side, and one of the lateral delimiting surfaces is against the first contact and one of the lateral delimiting surfaces is against the second contact. The invention further relates to a method for producing the thermoelectric element.