Kathryn A Alexander

US Patent:

20160380175, Dec 29, 2016

Filed:

Mar 27, 2015

Appl. No.:

14/671932

Inventors:

Andrew C. Miner - San Francisco CA, US
Kathryn E. Alexander - Burlingame CA, US

International Classification:

H01L 35/34
H01L 35/18
H01L 35/20
B22F 3/14

Abstract:

A method for forming a densified solid object corresponding to a thermoelectric element from a mixture of uncompressed, powdered constituent materials. A powdered precursor material may be selected to cause a shrinkage of at least twenty percent in at least two mutually orthogonal linear dimensions of a densified solid object compared to corresponding dimensions of a mold cavity. In some embodiments, a precursor material is selected to produce a thermoelectric material having electrical and mechanical properties suitable for a thermoelectric module. In some embodiments, at least two thermoelectric elements are electrically connected to conductive plates to form a thermoelectric module.