| US 7,569,763 B2 | ||
| Solid state energy converter | ||
| Yan R. Kucherov, Salt Lake City, Utah (US); and Peter L. Hagelstein, Carlisle, Mass. (US) | ||
| Assigned to Micropower Global Limited, Tortola (Virgin Islands (British)) | ||
| Filed on Sep. 13, 2006, as Appl. No. 11/531,645. | ||
| Application 10/307241 is a division of application No. 09/519640, filed on Mar. 06, 2000, granted, now 6,489,704, filed on Dec. 03, 2002. | ||
| Application 11/531645 is a continuation of application No. 10/801072, filed on Mar. 15, 2004, granted, now 7,109,408, filed on Sep. 19, 2006. | ||
| Application 10/801072 is a continuation in part of application No. 10/307241, filed on Nov. 27, 2002, granted, now 6,906,449, filed on Jun. 14, 2005. | ||
| Claims priority of provisional application 60/454511, filed on Mar. 13, 2003. | ||
| Claims priority of provisional application 60/123900, filed on Mar. 11, 1999. | ||
| Prior Publication US 2007/0024154 A1, Feb. 01, 2007 | ||
| This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer. | ||
| Int. Cl. H01L 35/04 (2006.01); H01L 35/32 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 136—205 [136/201; 136/211; 136/212; 136/236.1; 136/238; 136/239; 136/240; 257/467; 257/470; 257/471; 310/306] | 25 Claims |
| 1. A solid state energy converter with n-type conductivity, comprising:
an emitter region in thermal communication with a hot heat exchange surface, the emitter region comprising an n-type region
with donor concentration n* for electron emission;
a p-type barrier layer with acceptor concentration p* in contact with the emitter region; and
a segmented gap region in contact with the p-type barrier layer and comprising a first layer of an n-type semiconductor material
with donor doping n, and a second layer of a metal, the second layer reducing heat flow density, wherein the p-type barrier
layer provides a potential barrier and a Fermi level discontinuity between the emitter region and the segmented gap region.
|