Process for treating thermopile

Claim 1

A process for treating a high resistance thermopile to reduce its terminal-to-terminal resistance, said thermopile being composed of a plurality of small cross section, elongated, parallel, semiconductor elements, each element being separated from its adjacent element by means of a thin electrically insulating film, adjacent ends of selected pairs of adjacent elements being electrically connected to one another by means of a wire weld brazed to said adjacent ends, said plurality of thermoelectric elements forming a single series electrical circuit, said thermopile including terminal wires weld brazed to the ends of the two thermoelectric elements on the outside of the series circuit, said thermoelectric elements made from materials selected from the group consisting of Bi2Te3, Sb2Te3, Bi2Se3, Sb2Se3 and solid solutions and alloys thereof, said wires and terminal wires made from a material selected from the group consisting of palladium, gold, nickel, gold-plated nickel, and gold 92 percent-palladium 8 percent, said process comprising applying pressure to the ends of the thermopile and simultaneously applying across the terminal wires of the thermopile a capacitance discharge pulse, the extent of the pressure and the length and duration of the capacitive discharge pulse being sufficient to substantially heal the defects and irregularities in the pile.