Patent ID: 9691961
Date: 2017-06-27
CPC Classifications: H01L

Claim:
1. A thermoelectric conversion material, said material comprising: a substrate having a nano-level microporous nanostructure that comprises micropores, and a non-contiguous thermoelectric semiconductor layer comprised of a thermoelectric semiconductor material in the form of a non-contiguous film and present on the substrate, wherein the substrate is a block copolymer comprising a polymethyl methacrylate unit and a polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane-containing polymethacrylate unit, wherein the thermoelectric semiconductor material is a p-type bismuth telluride or an n-type bismuth telluride, wherein a thickness of the substrate is from 10 to 1,000 nm, wherein a depth of the micropores of the nanostructure is from 10 to 1,000 nm and a mean diameter thereof is from 10 to 1,000 nm, wherein the non-contiguous thermoelectric semiconductor layer has a first portion of the layer that only partially fills the micropores of the microporous nanostructure and is present on an inner bottom portion of the micropores of the microporous nanostructure, wherein the non-contiguous thermoelectric semiconductor layer has a second portion of the layer that is on a top portion of the substrate, wherein the first portion of the thermoelectric semiconductor layer is electrically insulated from the second portion of the thermoelectric semiconductor layer, wherein a film thickness of the first portion of the non-contiguous thermoelectric semiconductor layer is from 5 to 200 nm, and wherein a film thickness of the second portion of the non-contiguous thermoelectric semiconductor layer is from 10 to 500 nm.