Phonon Drag Contribution to Thermopower for a Heated Metal Nanoisland on a Semiconductor Substrate

Abstract

The possible contribution of phonon drag effect to the thermoelectrically sustained potential of a heated nanoisland on a semiconductor surface was estimated in a first principal consideration. We regarded electrons and phonons as interacting particles, and the interaction cross-section was derived from the basic theory of semiconductors. The solution of the equation of motion for average electrons under the simultaneous action of phonon drag and electric field gave the distributions of phonon flux, density of charge carriers and electric potential. Dimensional suppression of thermal conductance and electron-phonon interaction were accounted for but found to be less effective than expected. The developed model predicts the formation of a layer with a high density of charge carriers that is practically independent of the concentration of dopant ions. This layer can effectively intercept the phonon flow propagating from the heated nanoisland. The resulting thermoEMF can have sufficient magnitudes to explain the low-voltage electron emission capability of nanoisland films of metals and sp2-bonded carbon, previously studied by our group. The phenomenon predicted by the model can be used in thermoelectric converters with untypical parameters or in systems for local cooling.

Keywords

• island films
• thermoelectricity
• phonon drag
• confinement effects