We investigate the effect of $k$-cubic spin-orbit interaction on electrical and thermoelectric transport properties of two-dimensional fermionic systems. We obtain exact analytical expressions of the inverse relaxation time (IRT) and the Drude conductivity for long-range Coulomb and short-range delta scattering potentials. The IRT reveals that the scattering is completely suppressed along the three directions $θ^\prime = (2n+1)π/3 $ with $ n=1,2,3$. We also obtain analytical results of the thermopower and thermal conductivity at low temperature. The thermoelectric transport coefficients obey the Wiedemann-Franz law, even in the presence of $k$-cubic Rashba spin-orbit coupling (RSOC) at low temperature. In the presence of quantizing magnetic field, the signature of the RSOC is revealed through the appearance of the beating pattern in the Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH) oscillations of thermopower and thermal conductivity in low magnetic field regime. The empirical formulae for the SdH oscillation frequencies accurately describe the locations of the beating nodes. The beating pattern in magnetothermoelectric measurement can be used to extract the spin-orbit coupling constant.
Estimation of the electrical and thermal contact resistances and thermoemf of thermoelectric material-metal transient contact layer due to semiconductor surface rougness
Noble metals break preferably exposing (111)-oriented surfaces, that host Shockley type surface states (SSs). Nevertheless, the relevance of SSs on the electrical properties of gold-based molecular junctions has not been explored in detail yet. Here, we present ab initio simulations that show how the gold (111) SS, that lies approximately 0.5 eV below the Fermi energy, is key to determining correctly the electrical and thermoelectric response of the above junctions. We show how the ability to shift in a controlled way the energy position of gold SS enables us to tune the electrical and thermoe…
The paper proposes a strict diffusion theory of the electrical contact resistance of a thermoelectric superlattice (TES) - metal couple.The limits of the contact resistance for traditional thermoeletric materials with parabolic band spectrum and for superlattices described by Fivaz model are estimated.
We find that the empirical relation between the longitudinal and Hall resistivities (i.e. Rxx and Rxy) and its counterpart between the Seebeck and Nernst coefficients (i.e. Sxx and Sxy), both originally discovered in two-dimensional electron gases, hold remarkably well for graphene in the quantum transport regime except near the Dirac point. The validity of the relations is cross-examined by independently varying the magnetic field and the carrier density in graphene. We demonstrate that the pre-factor, α_s, does not depend on carrier density in graphene. By tuning the carrier mobility therefo…
We investigate the electrical and thermal transport properties of the $α-T_3$ based normal metal-insulator-superconductor (NIS) junction using Blonder-Tinkham-Klapwijk (BTK) theory. We show that the tunneling conductance of the NIS junction is an oscillatory function of the effective barrier potential ($χ$) of the insulating region upto a thin barrier limit. The periodicity and the amplitudes of the oscillations largely depend on the values of $α$ and the gate voltage of the superconducting region, namely, $U_0$. Further, the periodicity of the oscillation changes from $π$ to $π/2$ as we incre…
We discuss the temperature-dependent thermoelectric transport properties of semiconductor nanostructures comprising a quantum dot coupled to quantum wires: the thermal dependence of the electrical conductance, thermal conductance, and thermopower. We explore the universality of the thermoelectric properties in the temperature range associated with the Kondo crossover. In this thermal range, general arguments indicate that any equilibrium property's temperature dependence should be a universal function of the ratio $T^{*}=T/T_{K}$, where $T_{K}$ is the Kondo temperature. Considering the particl…
The addition of porosity to thermoelectric materials can significantly increase the figure of merit, ZT, by reducing the thermal conductivity. Unfortunately, porosity is also detrimental to the thermoelectric power factor in the numerator of the figure of merit ZT. In this manuscript we derive strategies to recoup electrical performance in nanoporous Si by fine tuning the carrier concentration and through judicious design of the pore size and shape so as to provide energy selective electron filtering. In this study, we considered phosphorus doped silicon containing discrete pores that are eith…
The quantum Hall effect in a 2D electron system expresses a topological invariant, leading to a quantized conductivity. The thermal Hall and thermoelectric Nernst conductances in two dimensions are also reported to be quantized in specific systems. However, a comprehensive study of these quantities within one formalism for quantum Hall systems is so far elusive. In this work, we investigate the Hall, thermal Hall, and Nernst effects analytically and numerically in 2D and 3D. In addition to the quantized values for the Hall and thermal Hall conductances in two dimensions, we also find quasi-qua…
Silicon carbide nanoparticles with diameters around 8 nm and with narrow size distribution have been finely mixed with doped silicon nanopowders and sintered into bulk samples to investigate the influence of nanoinclusions on electrical and thermal transport properties. We have compared the thermoelectric properties of samples ranging from 0-5% volume fraction of silicon carbide. The silicon carbide nanoinclusions lead to a significant improvement in the thermoelectric figure of merit, ZT, largely due to an enhancement of the Seebeck coefficient. A semiclassical Boltzmann transport equation is…
A new formalism to describe steady-state electronic and thermal transport in the framework of density functional theory is presented. A one-to-one correspondence is proven between the three basic variables of the theory, i.e., the density on as well as the electrical and heat currents through the junction, and the three basic potentials, i.e., the local potential in as well as the DC bias and thermal gradient across the junction. Consequently, the Kohn-Sham system of the theory requires three exchange-correlations potentials. In linear response, the new formalism leads to exact expressions for…
We study the effects caused by Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling over the thermoelectric transport properties of a single-electron transistor, viz., a quantum dot connected to one-dimensional leads. Using linear response theory and employing the numerical renormalization group method, we calculate the thermopower, electrical and thermal conductances, dimensionless thermoelectric figure of merit, and study the Wiedemann-Franz law, showing their temperature maps. Our results for all those properties indicate that spin-orbit coupling drives the system into the Kondo regime. We show that …
We analyze the thermoelectric cooling properties of a Corbino device in the quantum Hall regime on the basis of experimental data of electrical conductance. We focus on the cooling power and the coefficient of performance within and beyond linear response. Thermovoltage measurements in this device reported in {\em Phys. Rev. Applied, {\bf 14} 034019 (2020)} indicated that the transport takes place in the diffusive regime, without signatures of effects due to the electron-phonon interaction in a wide range of temperatures and filling factors. In this regime, the heat and charge currents by elec…
The low thermal conductivity of silicon nanostructures, with respect to bulk silicon, opens excellent possibilities for thermoelectric applications because it will enable the use of silicon for the high efficient direct conversion of wasted heat into electrical power. This paves the way for the application of silicon devices for energy scavenging and green energy harvesting. We present a device with a large number of nanostructures suspended on a silicon substrate. Top-down techniques for device fabrication based on advanced lithography and anisotropic etching will be discussed. FEM simulation…
We study nonequilibrium transport in various open quantum systems whose systems and leads/baths are made of topological superconductors (TSs), semiconductors, and metals. Using quantum Langevin equations and Green's function method, we derive exact expressions for steady-state electrical, thermal, and spin current at the junctions between a system and leads. We validate these current expressions by comparing them with the results from direct time-evolution simulations. We then show how an electrical current injected in TS wires divides into two parts carried by single electronic excitations an…
