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The Role of Non‐Equilibrium Carriers in the Formation of Thermo‐E.M.F. in Bipolar Semiconductors
Author(s) -
Gurevich Yu.G.,
Logvinov G.N.,
Volovichev I.N.,
Espejo G.,
Titov O.Yu.,
Meriuts A.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
physica status solidi (b)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.51
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1521-3951
pISSN - 0370-1972
DOI - 10.1002/1521-3951(200205)231:1<278::aid-pssb278>3.0.co;2-5
Subject(s) - thermoelectric effect , semiconductor , charge carrier , condensed matter physics , materials science , fermi level , electron , current (fluid) , physics , thermodynamics , optoelectronics , quantum mechanics
A new approach is presented to thermoelectric phenomena, as a linear transport process of non‐equilibrium charge carriers. The role of non‐equilibrium carriers, as well as surface and bulk recombination, has shown to be crucial even within the linear approximation. Electron and hole Fermi quasi‐levels that appeared in a thermal field are calculated for the case of thermoelectric current flow through a circuit and the corresponding boundary conditions are obtained. It is shown for the first time that the Fermi quasi‐level of one of the subsystems of quasi‐particles, can be a non‐monotonous function of the coordinates. General expressions for the thermoelectric current, thermo‐e.m.f., and electrical resistance of bipolar semiconductors have been obtained. For the first time, surface recombination and surface resistance were taken into account in thermoelectric phenomena.