Thermoelectric transport perpendicular to thin-film heterostructures calculated using the Monte Carlo technique

The Monte Carlo technique is used to calculate electrical as well as thermoelectric transport properties across thin-film heterostructures. We study a thin InGaAsP barrier layer sandwiched between two InGaAs contact layers, when the barrier thickness is in the 50 nm–2000 nm range. We found that with decreasing size, the effective Seebeck coefficient is increased substantially. The transition between pure ballistic thermionic transport and fully diffusive thermoelectric transport is also described.