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Peculiarities of thermopower in Bi microwires at low temperatures
Author(s) -
Gitsu D.,
Huber T.,
Konopko L.,
Nikolaeva A.
Publication year - 2005
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/pssb.200440079
Subject(s) - phonon drag , seebeck coefficient , condensed matter physics , materials science , drag , atmospheric temperature range , phonon , phase (matter) , crystal (programming language) , nanowire , thermodynamics , chemistry , physics , composite material , nanotechnology , thermal conductivity , organic chemistry , computer science , programming language
The temperature dependence (4.2–300 K) of the thermopower of thin Bi wires was investigated. The cylindrical Bi crystals ranging in size from 0.19 to 3 µm were prepared by high‐frequency liquid‐phase casting in a glass capillary. The nanowires are single crystal and are oriented with the (1011) crystalline axis along the wire axis. For temperatures below ∼12 K the thermopower is dominated by phonon drag and a maximum is observed at around 6 K. The position of this maximum and its value depends on the wire's diameter and the length of the samples. In the temperature range 8–11 K the phonon‐drag contribution follows an exponential temperature dependence that is characteristic of a two‐stage mechanism. The positive thermopower maxima of the order of 10 µV K –1 are explained in terms of the phonon drag of carriers. Several mechanisms that may account for the data are discussed. (© 2005 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)