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Physical principles of barrierless thermoelectric cooling
Author(s) -
Gurevich Yu. G.,
Logvinov Georgiy N.,
Oscar Angeles Fragoso
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.200461831
Subject(s) - thermoelectric effect , thermoelectric cooling , materials science , thermal resistance , thermal conductivity , junction temperature , thermal , semiconductor , thermodynamics , thermoelectric materials , mechanics , composite material , physics , optoelectronics
A new approach is suggested to explain thermoelectric cooling. It is based on an analysis of this phenomenon from the point of view of the energy balance equation. It is shown that in the general case the thermoelectric cooling at a junction of two semiconductors is determined by the barrier cooling effect (the Peltier effect) and the barrierless cooling effect. The latter is a new thermoelectric effect originating only at the finite value of the junction surface thermal conductivity. The influence of the surface thermal resistance on both the Peltier effect and the barrierless cooling effect has been studied. It is shown that the Peltier effect is reduced with an increase of the junction surface thermal resistance while the barrierless cooling effect occurs more strictly with an increase of the surface thermal resistance. (© 2005 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)