Ordinarily regarded as disadvantageous, thermal-expansion mismatch would be turned to advantage.

In a proposed alternative to previous approaches to making hot-shoe contacts to the legs of thermoelectric devices, one relies on differential thermal expansion to increase contact pressures for the purpose of reducing the electrical resistances of contacts as temperatures increase. The proposed approach is particularly applicable to thermoelectric devices containing p-type (positive-charge-carrier) legs made of a Zintl compound (specifically, Yb₁₄MnSb₁₁) and n-type (negative-charge-carrier) legs made of SiGe.