A method for producing high-temperature sputtered stoichiometric TiN thin films. A substrate is placed in a sputtering chamber a Ti target to be sputtered and the substrate temperature is controlled to be between room temperature and about 800° C. The sputtering chamber is evacuated to a base pressure of 2×10.sup.−7 Torr or lower, The Ti target is presputtered under an Ar gas flow at a pressure of 2-15 mTorr in a radio frequency (RF) power of 50-200 W. The Ti is then sputtered onto the substrate in the presence of N.sub.2 and Ar gas flows under the same pressure and RF power, with the ratio of N.sub.2 to Ar favoring N to ensure that the film is nitrogen-saturated.

A method for producing a chip of a thermoelectric conversion material formed of a thermoelectric semiconductor composition, including a step of forming a sacrificial layer on a substrate, (B) a step of forming a thermoelectric conversion material layer of a thermoelectric semiconductor composition on the sacrificial layer, (C) a step of annealing the thermoelectric conversion material layer, (D) a step of transferring the annealed thermoelectric conversion material layer to a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer, (E) a step of individualizing the thermoelectric conversion material layer into individual chips of a thermoelectric conversion material, and (F) a step of peeling the individualized chips of a thermoelectric conversion material; and a method for producing a thermoelectric conversion module using the chip produced according to the production method.

A thermoelectric conversion material includes a sintered body including a main phase including a plurality of crystal grains including Ce, Mn, Fe, and Sb and forming a skuttterudite structure, and a grain boundary between crystal grains adjacent to each other. The grain boundary includes a sintering aid phase including at least Mn, Sb, and O. Thus, with respect to a skutterudite-type thermoelectric conversion material including Sb, which is a sintering-resistant material, it is possible to improve sinterability while maintaining a practical dimensionless figure-of-merit ZT, and to reduce processing cost.

A substrate of which at least an upper surface is formed of an insulating material, an N-type semiconductor layer, a P-type semiconductor layer, and an insulator layer are provided, one semiconductor layer of the N-type semiconductor layer and the P-type semiconductor layer is formed on the substrate, the insulator layer is formed on the one semiconductor layer, and the other semiconductor layer of the N-type semiconductor layer and the P-type semiconductor layer is formed on the insulator layer. In this way, since electric charges induced by an external voltage are generated both at and near an interface between the N-type semiconductor layer and the insulator layer and at and near an interface between the P-type semiconductor layer and the insulator layer, an amount of the generated charge increases, and thus a larger variation in thermal conductivity and high thermal responsiveness can be obtained.

A method includes etching and patterning a metal cladding of a metal clad laminate to form electrically conductive pads, leads and terminals therewith across a surface of the metal clad laminate, and sputter depositing pairs of N-type thermoelectric legs and P-type thermoelectric legs electrically in contact with one another on top of the formed electrically conductive pads across the surface of the metal clad laminate. The method also includes depositing conductive interconnects on top of the pairs of the N-type thermoelectric legs and the P-type thermoelectric legs to connect all of the pairs of the N-type thermoelectric legs and the P-type thermoelectric legs to one another to form the thermoelectric module, and utilizing a temperature gradient perpendicular to a plane of the surface of the metal clad laminate of the formed thermoelectric module to derive thermoelectric power from a system element.

Provided is a heat flow switching element which has a larger change in a thermal conductivity and has excellent thermal responsiveness. The heat flow switching element includes an N-type semiconductor layer, an insulator layer laminated on the N-type semiconductor layer, a P-type semiconductor layer laminated on the insulator layer, an N-side electrode connected to the N-type semiconductor layer, and a P-side electrode connected to the P-type semiconductor layer. In particular, the insulator layer is formed of a dielectric. Also, a plurality of N-type semiconductor layers and P-type semiconductor layers are laminated alternately with the insulator layer interposed therebetween.

A thermoelectric element of the present invention comprises a first metal substrate, a first resin layer, a plurality of first electrodes, a plurality of P-type thermoelectric legs and a plurality of N-type thermoelectric legs, a plurality of second electrodes, a second resin layer, and a second metal substrate, wherein the first metal substrate is a low-temperature portion, the second metal substrate is a high-temperature portion, the second resin layer comprises a first layer and a second layer arranged on the first layer, the first and second layers include a silicon (Si)-based resin, and the bonding strength of the first resin layer is higher than the bonding strength of the second resin layer.

A thermoelectric element of the present invention comprises a first metal substrate, a first resin layer, a plurality of first electrodes, a plurality of P-type thermoelectric legs and a plurality of N-type thermoelectric legs, a plurality of second electrodes, a second resin layer, and a second metal substrate, wherein the first metal substrate is a low-temperature portion, the second metal substrate is a high-temperature portion, the second resin layer comprises a first layer and a second layer arranged on the first layer, the first and second layers include a silicon (Si)-based resin, and the bonding strength of the first resin layer is higher than the bonding strength of the second resin layer.

A thermoelectric material includes a lower part from a bottom surface of the thermoelectric material to a point of 30% of an average thickness of the thermoelectric material and having an average content of carbon atoms of 40 at% or more in the thermoelectric material, and an upper part corresponding to a remaining 70% of the average thickness of the thermoelectric material and having an average content of carbon atoms of 20 at% or less in the thermoelectric material.

An insulated heat transfer substrate includes a heat transfer layer formed of aluminum or an aluminum alloy, a conductive layer provided on one surface side of the heat transfer layer, and a glass layer formed between the conductive layer and the heat transfer layer, in which the conductive layer is formed of a sintered body of silver, and a thickness of the glass layer is in a range of 5 μm or larger and 50 μm or smaller.