A high packing density micro-thermoelectric power generator based on film thermoelectric materials fabricated by electrodeposition technology

N-type Bi2Te2.7Se0.3 thermoelectric (TE) compound and p-type Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 TE compound have been synthesized by electrodeposition combined with annealing treatment. Their composition, structure and morphology are characterized by XRD, EDS and SEM. The performances of the deposited films were also measured. The as-deposited films possess amorphous structure and they can be transferred to nano‐crystal after anneal treatment. The annealed films show a preferred orientation along (015) crystal plane. Anneal treatment can also improve the performance of the deposited films efficiently. A micro-thermoelectric power generator (MTEG) module with high packing density of film TE legs was proposed, in which the heat transfers along the surface direction of the TE legs. Based on the proposed module, a MTEG containing 160 film thermocouples was fabricated and its size was 4 mm (height) × 25 mm (width) × 1 mm (thickness). Its open-circuit voltage, maximum output power and corresponding power density under a temperature difference of 20 K at 25 °C are 660 mV, 77 μW and 770 μW cm− 3, respectively.