Micropelt Unveils Power Efficient Micro-Cooler Technology

Micropelt GmbH introduced the MPC-D40x series, a new generation of efficient thermoelectric coolers (TECs). Micropelt’s micro-structuring technology enables them to produce TECs with an electrical resistance of more than 30Ω on a single square millimeter footprint. The TEC, in combination with its controller system, can therefore be driven at an efficiency of 90% and better.

Micropelt says this new approach will impact the system architecture of applications using small TECs including those where cooling is omitted for reasons of system cost and power dissipation. Applications include cooling of lower power laser diodes and other active or passive devices in the telecommunications, photonics, optoelectronics, and sensors markets.

Micropelt’s MPC-D403/404 TECs are fabricated using semiconductor manufacturing processes that enable Micropelt to produce what it describes as the world’s smallest micro-coolers. Feature sizes of 45 microns can accommodate 50 thermocouples per square millimeter, said to be about ten times more than bulk Peltier technology can offer.

"Our micro-structuring technology is able to scale to application specific dimensions, electrical requirements, and thermal properties," explained Joachim Nurnus, CTO of Micropelt. "We measure drive currents 10 times smaller than those known for similar bulk TECs whose few thermocouples create an electrical resistance much below 1Ω and hence a drive current well above 1A."

The MPC-D40x series can pump over 600mW with a drive current of 200mA as required for thermal management of low power edge emitting lasers or VCSELs. At low drive currents the power efficiency of the TEC increases. At the same time, the design of the control circuitry can be simpler, which also translates to reductions on the bill-of-materials and circuit board footprint.

"Everyone wants their transceiver modules to be smaller and more energy efficient," says Wladimir Punt, VP sales and Marketing for Micropelt. "We analyzed the thermoelectric system architecture and concluded that for very small TECs the drive current is key to solving the prevailing power consumption and heat dissipation issues. Cutting the drive current by 90% can improve the overall cooling system efficiency by 50%, because the drive voltage remains at a level where buck regulators can provide good efficiencies. This will help photonic packaging and system designers to develop components consuming less energy, producing less heat, and fitting into smaller packages."

Micropelt’s wafer-based production technology brings economies-of-scale to the high volume manufacture of TECs. The TEC control system not only benefits from standard, inexpensive, readily available, and ultra-small TEC control circuit components, but its overall power efficiency results in greatly reduced power consumption and heat dissipation on densely packed line cards. Micropelt’s micro-cooler represents a compelling technology for use with products not normally exposed to active cooling, but that would benefit from higher performance, tighter specifications, and further miniaturization.

Samples of Micropelt’s MPC-D403 and MPC-D404 micro-coolers are now available. Volume pricing targets 3USD in quantities of 500,000 units.