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Thermopower in nearly compensated tunnel junctions
Author(s) -
Maťašovská S.,
Hlubina R.
Publication year - 2006
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.200642070
Subject(s) - seebeck coefficient , sign (mathematics) , condensed matter physics , tunnel junction , electron , current (fluid) , charge (physics) , physics , charge carrier , interference (communication) , materials science , thermoelectric effect , quantum tunnelling , electrical engineering , quantum mechanics , engineering , mathematical analysis , channel (broadcasting) , mathematics , thermodynamics
The electric current across a tunnel junction between two metals results from the flow of electrons and holes. Generically, one of the two contributions to the current dominates. It is shown that the sign of the thermopower across a tunnel junction provides a direct information about the sign of the dominant charge carriers inside the junction. We predict that for nearly compensated tunnel junctions in which the electron and the hole contributions are of comparable magnitude, the thermopower can be strongly enhanced with respect to the generic case, because of an interference effect between electron and hole paths. (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)