Solid-state thermionics and thermoelectrics in the ballistic transport regime

T. E. Humphrey, University of Wollongong
M. F. O'Dwyer, University of Wollongong
C. Zhang, University of Wollongong
R. A. Lewis, University of Wollongong

Article comments

This article was originally published as: Humphrey, TE, O'Dwyer, MF, Zhang, C & Lewis, RA, Solid-state thermionics and thermoelectrics in the ballistic transport regime, Journal of Applied Physics, 98, July 2005, 026108. Copyright American Institute of Physics. Original journal available here.

Abstract

It is shown that the equations for electrical current in solid-state thermionic and thermoelectric devices converge for devices with a width equal to the mean free path of electrons, yielding a common expression for the intensive electronic efficiency in the two types of devices. This result is used to demonstrate that the material parameters for thermionic and thermoelectric refrigerators are equal, rather than differing by a multiplicative factor as previously thought.