Characterization of the thermal behavior of PN thermoelectric couples by scanning thermal microscope
Résumé
In this paper, we present the temperature profile measurements of a PN thermoelectric couple. The study is made in the AC regime. A couple is fed by a sinusoidal current and, using a scanning thermal microscope (SThM) and a lock-in scheme, we measure the amplitude and the phase of the first harmonic of the temperature along the surface of the couple. The influence of frequency is observed and we present a model which predicts the thermal behavior of the couple. The results of this model are in excellent agreement with the measurements.