High-frequency phonons drive large phonon-drag thermopower in semiconductors at high carrier density
Chunhua Li, Nakib H. Protik, Navaneetha K. Ravichandran, David Broido
Abstract
It has been well established that (i) the thermopower of semiconductors can be enhanced through a phenomenon known as the drag effect, and (ii) the drag enhancement involves only low-frequency acoustic phonons and benefits from low electron densities and low temperatures. Using first-principles calculations we show that large drag enhancements to the thermopower are possible at high carrier density even at room temperature and arise from high-frequency acoustic phonons. A fascinating example is cubic boron arsenide (BAs) for which the calculated room temperature drag enhancement of the thermopower exceeds an order of magnitude at a high hole density of ${10}^{21}\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\mathrm{c}{\mathrm{m}}^{\ensuremath{-}3}$. This remarkable behavior stems from the simultaneously weak phonon-phonon and phonon-hole scattering of the high-frequency phonons in BAs that become drag active at high carrier densities through electron-phonon interactions. This work advances our understanding of coupled electron-phonon nanoscale transport and introduces an unexpected paradigm for achieving large thermopowers.