Mechanisms of the thermal electromotive force, heating and cooling in semiconductor structures

• An analytic self-consistent study of Seebeck, Peltier, Joule and Thomson is given.
• The study is valid for weak electric currents and temperature gradients.
• We show that contribution of each effect to temperature distribution is commensurable.
• A new formulation and interpretation of the Thomson effect is given.
• Kinetic coefficients dependence was considered up to quadratic terms in current.

A comprehensive study of the mechanisms of the thermal electromotive force, heating and cooling originated by a temperature gradient and an electric current in semiconductor devices is reported. The Seebeck, Peltier, Joule and Thomson phenomena are studied self-consistently under the approximation of weak electric current and temperature gradient. Analytical calculations show that the contributions of each effect to the temperature distribution are commensurable. A new formulation and interpretation of the Thomson effect are given. Additionally, attention is paid to some questions of nonequilibrium thermodynamics of thermoelectric and electrothermic phenomena, that demand some clarification.