2020/08/31 by Nakib H. Protik, Boris Kozinsky · 53 citations
Engineering · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Ab initio #Advancements in Semiconductor Devices and Circuit Design #Boltzmann constant #Boltzmann equation #Condensed matter physics #Drag #Electron #Electron mobility #Phonon #Phonon drag #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Scattering #Seebeck coefficient #Silicon Carbide Semiconductor Technologies #Thermal conductivity #Thermal properties of materials #Thermodynamics #Wiedemann–Franz law #cond-mat.mtrl-sci
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevb.102.245202
published in Physical review. B./Physical review. B 102(24) (American Physical Society)
arxiv created 2020/12/01 · openalex created_date 2020/12/07 · openalex publication_date 2020/12/15 · arxiv updated 2020/12/30 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
We present a combined treatment of the nonequilibrium dynamics and transport of electrons and phonons by carrying out ab initio calculations of the fully coupled electron and phonon Boltzmann transport equations. We find that the presence of mutual drag between the two carriers causes the thermopower to be enhanced and dominated by the transport of phonons, rather than electrons as in the traditional semiconductor picture. Drag also strongly boosts the intrinsic electron mobility, thermal conductivity and the Lorenz number. Impurity scattering is seen to suppress the drag enhancement of the thermal and electrical conductivities, while having weak effects on the enhancement of the Lorenz number and thermopower. We demonstrate these effects in n-doped 3C-SiC at room temperature, and explain their origins. This work establishes the roles of microscopic scattering mechanisms in the emergence of strong drag effects in the transport of the interacting electron-phonon gas.