A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate, a polysilicon layer fixed to the semiconductor substrate, and a silicon nitride layer in contact with the polysilicon layer, wherein the polysilicon layer includes an n-type layer and a p-type layer in contact with the n-type layer; a semiconductor device manufacturing method includes forming the polysilicon layer covering at least one hydrogen-containing layer, and heating the polysilicon layer and the hydrogen-containing layer.

A method for obtaining copper arsenic chalcogen derived nanoparticles, including selecting a first precursor material from the group comprising copper, arsenic, antimony, bismuth, and mixtures thereof, selecting a second material from the group comprising sulfur, selenium, tellurium, and mixtures thereof, and then reacting both precursors in a solvent medium at conditions conducive to the formation of copper arsenic chalcogen derived nanoparticles.

Provided is a silicon bulk thermoelectric conversion material in which thermoelectric performance is improved by reducing the thermal conductivity as compared with the prior art. In the silicon bulk thermoelectric conversion material, the ZT is greater than 0.2 at room temperature with the elemental silicon. In the silicon bulk thermoelectric conversion material, a plurality of silicon grains have an average of 1 nm or more and 300 nm or less, a first hole have an average of 1 nm or more and 30 nm or less present in the plurality of silicon grains and surfaces of the silicon grains, and a second hole have an average of 100 nm or more and 300 nm or less present between the plurality of silicon grains, wherein the aspect ratio of a crystalline silicon grain is less than 10.

The present invention concerns a water-processable n-type semiconductor comprised of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and poly(ethyleneimine) (PEI). The semiconductors are prepared by providing PVP and CNTs in a hydrophilic slurry and dispersing therein small amounts of PEI.

Disclosed are methods for the manufacture of n-type and p-type filled skutterudite thermoelectric legs of an electrical contact. A first material of CoSi.sub.2 and a dopant are ball-milled to form a first powder which is thermo-mechanically processed with a second powder of n-type skutterudite to form a n-type skutterudite layer disposed between a first layer and a third layer of the doped-CoSi.sub.2. In addition, a plurality of components such as iron, and nickel, and at least one of cobalt or chromium are ball-milled form a first powder that is thermo-mechanically processed with a p-type skutterudite layer to form a p-type skutterudite layer “second layer” disposed between a first and a third layer of the first powder. The specific contact resistance between the first layer and the skutterudite layer for both the n-type and the p-type skutterudites subsequent to hot-pressing is less than about 10.0 μΩ.Math.cm.sup.2.

A semiconductor structure comprises one or more semiconductor devices, each of the semiconductor devices having two or more electrical connections; one or more first conductors connected to a first electrical connection on the semiconductor device, the first conductor comprising a first material having a positive Seebeck coefficient; and one or more second conductors connected to a second electrical connection on the semiconductor device, the second conductor comprising a second material having a negative Seebeck coefficient. The first conductor and the second conductor conduct electrical current through the semiconductor device and conduct heat away from the semiconductor device.

There is provided a thermoelectric material including a compound which is formed of an element R belonging to alkaline earth metal and lanthanoid, and an element X belonging to any of Group 13 elements, Group 14 elements, and Group 15 elements. The composition ratio of the element R and the element X is selected to obtain the compound having an AlB.sub.2 type structure.

A semiconductor device and method of making same are disclosed. In some embodiments, a method includes: forming a first thermoelectric conduction leg on a substrate; forming a second thermoelectric conduction leg on the substrate to be aligned with the first thermoelectric conduction leg along a same row; forming at least one intermediate thermoelectric conduction structure on an end of the second thermoelectric conduction leg; forming a contact structure to couple the first and second thermoelectric conduction legs via the at least one intermediate thermoelectric conduction structure; and recessing the substrate to form at least one trench substantially adjacent to a respective side edge of either the first thermoelectric conduction leg or the second thermoelectric conduction leg.

The present disclosure provides a thermoelectric structure including a thermoelectric substrate and a barrier layer covering the thermoelectric substrate. A material of the barrier layer is metallic glass. The thermoelectric structure of the present disclosure may apply to a medium-temperature (about 400K to about 800K) thermoelectric module to effectively block the diffusion of the thermoelectric substrate.

A method of producing a shaped product for a thermoelectric conversion element is provided. The method comprises: mixing a coarse mixture that contains metal nanoparticle-supporting carbon nanotubes, a resin component, and a solvent by dispersion treatment that brings about a cavitation effect or a crushing effect, to obtain a composition for a thermoelectric conversion element; and removing the solvent from the composition for a thermoelectric conversion element.