Coherent thermoelectric transport in single, double, and U-bend structures

Articles you may be interested in Ballistic thermoelectric properties in boron nitride nanoribbons Geometrical effects on the thermoelectric properties of ballistic graphene antidot lattices Acoustic phonon transport and ballistic thermal conductance through a three-dimensional double-bend quantum structure J. Coherent, i.e., ballistic, thermoelectric transport in electron waveguide structures containing right-angle bends in single, double, and U-bend configurations is investigated. A theory based on Green's functions is used to derive the transmission function (and from that the transport coefficients) and allows for the inclusion of realistic models of spatially distributed imperfections. The results for the single and double-bend structures are presented in more detail than elsewhere in the literature. In the U-bend structure, sharp resonances in the stop-band region of the transmission function lead to large-magnitude peaks in the thermopower and consequently a large thermoelectric figure of merit (of order ten in some instances). These properties are still readily apparent even in the presence of moderate edge roughness or Anderson disorder. V C 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.