半导体制冷器的进展

Development of Semiconductor Cooler

半导体制冷器具有微型化、轻量化、无振动、长寿命等许多重要优点。目前３００Ｋ室温下优值系数Ｚ最高的半导体制冷材料是ｐ型Ａｇ０．５８Ｃｕ０．２９Ｔｉ０．９４Ｔｅ四元合金，２００～３００Ｋ普冷范围内三元Ｂｉ２Ｔｅ３－Ｓｂ２Ｔｅ３－Ｓｂ２Ｓｅ３固溶体合金仍然应用最广且性能优良，而２０～２００Ｋ低温下则是Ｂｉ－Ｓｂ合金热电性能最好。电臂材料是决定半导体制冷器性能的主要因素，但通过改进电臂结构，设计特殊的电臂联接方式，同样能显著提高半导体制冷器的性能，同轴环臂温差电对和“无限级联”温差电对，已被试验证明可明显提高最大制冷温差。利用高温超导（ＨＴＳＣ）材料代替ｐ型半导体材料制成被动式ｐ型臂，将为低温半导体制冷器开辟一条新的道路。

Semiconductor cooler has many important advantages,including miniature,light weight,without vibration,long life etc.Today p type Ag 0 58 Cu 0 29 Ti 0 94 Te alloy is the best material for semiconductor cooling with the highest figure of merit at 300K room temperature,and from 200K to 300K pseudo ternary Bi 2Te 3 Sb 2Te 3 Sb 2Se 3 solid solutions still are the most popular materials with good performance,and Bi Sb alloy is the best between 20K and 200K.Although performance of semiconductor cooler is chiefly determined by the material,it can be enhanced greatly by improving the arms structure of thermoelectric couple,and by designing particular linking styles.Thermoelectric couple with co axial disk shaped arms and the ones with “infinite cascade”were proved to be able to produce greater maximum temperature difference.HTSC has been used to make the passive p type leg instead of p type thermoelectric material,and will open up a new road for semiconductor cooler working at low temperature.