Nextreme Announces New eTEG Thermoelectric Power Generation Evaluation Kit

Thin-film thermoelectric power generators convert waste heat into clean energy…

DURHAM, N.C. (December 18, 2008) — Nextreme Thermal Solutions, the leader in microscale thermal and power management products for the electronics industry, today announced the availability of the eTEG Thermoelectric Power Generation Evaluation Kit. The kit provides customers with an easy to use first evaluation solution for assessment of Nextreme's power generation technology. The kit eliminates the need for a sophisticated laboratory set up and requires only modest equipment to measure the power generated by Nextreme’s eTEG UPF40 devices.

Nextreme's thin-film embedded thermoelectric generator (eTEG™) generates electrical power via the Seebeck effect, where electricity is produced from a temperature differential applied across the device. The Nextreme advantage is a very thin, nano-engineered material that delivers a Seebeck coefficient greater than conventional thermoelectric material. The ability of Nextreme’s thin-film thermoelectric materials to convert waste heat into electrical energy using a thin, nanoscale form factor positions it uniquely to address market opportunities that standard bulk thermoelectric devices and other energy scavenging or energy reclamation systems cannot address.

The evaluation kit includes a thick film heater as the heat source, an embedded eTEG UPF40 power generator module, a heat sink/fan assembly and thermocouples for temperature measurement. The kit provides the full thermal path - from heat source to heat sink - and requires only a power supply for the heater and a volt meter to measure the voltage generated by the eTEG across a load resistor; thereby determining the power output. Customers can easily reproduce and confirm the performance data provided by Nextreme during this evaluation process.

"Because customers are used to handling much larger devices, the first evaluation of our power generator is often a challenge," said Dave Koester, vice president of engineering for Nextreme. "With the new kit, customers essentially plug it in and start evaluating the technology for their application. The kit facilitates the introduction and evaluation of our technology quickly and easily and lowers the barrier and costs for evaluation."

Nextreme engineers are currently working with customers in a variety of industries and applications. These include powering gas sensors from waste heat; trickle-charging batteries in dark places; and improving the fuel efficiency in automobiles.

Nextreme's thin-film thermoelectric products are manufactured in volume with the Thermal Copper Pillar Bump process, an established electronic packaging approach that scales well into large arrays. The Thermal Copper Pillar Bump process integrates thin-film thermoelectric material into the solder bumped interconnects that provide mechanical and electrical connections for today's high performance/high density integrated circuits. Unlike conventional solder bumps, thermal bumps function as solid-state heat pumps on a microscale. The stack-up of a thermal bump, including the thin-film material, solder and electrical traces, is only 100 microns high and has a diameter of 238 microns. The thermal bumping process can be implemented at the package-, die- or wafer-level, and is used today to fabricate Nextreme’s discrete modules.

The eTEG Thermoelectric Power Generation Evaluation Kit is available for $295 and encouraged for first time evaluations. Pricing for individual modules and volume orders is available upon request.

Click for more information on the TEG Power Generation Evaluation Kit.

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