Thermoelectric power of hot carriers in the nonequilibrium-statistical- operator approach

Abstract

The thermoelectric power of charge carriers heated under a strong applied electric field in semiconductors is obtained by use of the nonequilibrium- statistical-operator (NSO) method. The balance equations are derived in terms of the NSO density matrix and the force-force correlation functions which can easily be calculated for a system with electron-impurity and electron-phonon interactions. A numerical study has been performed for hole-doped Ge. It is shown that the hot-electron thermoelectric power is sensitively affected by the applied electric field and that its sign is reversed at higher electric fields. © 1995 The American Physical Society.