Geometrical Magnetothermopower

TitleGeometrical Magnetothermopower
Publication TypeProceedings Article
Year of Conference2000
AuthorsHeremans JP, Thrush CM, Morelli DT
Conference NameProceedings of 19th International Conference on Thermoelectrics (ICT2000)
Pagination201-204
PublisherBabrow, Wales
Conference LocationCardiff, Wales
EditorRowe DM
ISBN Number0-9519286-2-7
Abstract

We describe here theoretically and experimentally a new concept that shows how the geometry of a semiconductor sample can be manipulated to create a large change of the thermoelectric power in a magnetic field. The most effective geometry is one that short-circuits the Nernst-Ettinghausen effect. When the minority carriers have a larger mobility that the majority carriers, this geometrical magnetothermopower (GMT) effect can be designed to freeze out their contribution to the total thermopower. The thermoelectric figure of merit of Bi1-xSbx alloys is greatly enhanced in a magnetic field, due to the intrinsic magnetoresistance of the material. By analogy, the GMT effect described here can be used to design thermoelectric materials with enhanced figure of merit in a magnetic field from other semiconductors. p-type InSb is used here to demonstrate the effect experimentally.

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