The Low-Temperature Seebeck Coefficient in Insulators

We show the existence of a space-charge effect in the measurement of the low-temperature Seebeck coefficient in insulators. The Seebeck coefficient S ( T ) is obtained by measurement of the voltage Δ V due to a temperature gradient ( Δ T , S = - Δ V / Δ T ) . The space-charge effect makes the voltag...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of electronic materials Vol. 44; no. 1; pp. 431 - 434
Main Author Mahan, G. D.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Boston Springer US 01.01.2015
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects
Characterization and Evaluation of Materials
Chemistry and Materials Science
Electronics and Microelectronics
Instrumentation
Insulation
Low temperature physics
Materials Science
Optical and Electronic Materials
Solid State Physics
Seebeck coefficient
thermoelectrics
variable-range hopping
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Summary:We show the existence of a space-charge effect in the measurement of the low-temperature Seebeck coefficient in insulators. The Seebeck coefficient S ( T ) is obtained by measurement of the voltage Δ V due to a temperature gradient ( Δ T , S = - Δ V / Δ T ) . The space-charge effect makes the voltage go to zero in insulators, even if the Seebeck coefficient does not vanish. We propose that the Seebeck coefficient does not actually vanish in insulators, contrary to common belief. We also propose that variable-range hopping is not observed in conductivity measurements.
ISSN:0361-5235
1543-186X
DOI:10.1007/s11664-014-3492-8