Physical principles of barrierless thermoelectric cooling

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...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physica Status Solidi (b) 2005-07, Vol.242 (9), p.1763-1766
Main Authors: Gurevich, Yu. G., Logvinov, Georgiy N., Oscar, Angeles Fragoso
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
72.20.Pa
84.60.Rb
Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties
Conductivity phenomena in semiconductors and insulators
Electronic transport in condensed matter
Exact sciences and technology
Physics
Thermoelectric and thermomagnetic effects
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Summary: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)
ISSN:0370-1972
1521-3951
DOI:10.1002/pssb.200461831