Patent ID: 8304851

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: a substrate; a thin dielectric layer formed over a first portion of the substrate; a thick dielectric layer formed over a second portion of the substrate; a first portion of a first conductive layer that extends over at least a portion of the thin dielectric layer, wherein the first layer is made of a first material having a first Seebeck coefficient; a second portion of the first conductive layer that extends over at least a portion of the thick dielectric layer; a second conductive layer that extends over at least a portion of each of the thin dielectric layer and the thick dielectric layer, wherein the second conductive layer is configured to receive infrared radiation so as to create a vertical temperature gradient between the second conductive layer and the substrate; a conductive path that is formed between the second conductive layer and the second portion of first conductive layers, wherein the conductive path has a second Seebeck coefficient; a first interconnect path that is coupled to the first portion of the first conductive layer, and wherein the first interconnect path has a third Seebeck coefficient; and a second interconnect path that is coupled to the second portion of the first conductive layer.