Interpretation of Equilibrium and Steady-State Hall and Thermoelectric Effects in Inhomogeneous Materials

Abstract

Consideration of simple variations of a basic resistive-network model for an inhomogeneous material shows that a wide variety of experimentally observed effects can be described with respect to equilibrium or steady-state Hall and thermoelectric measurements. The correlation between these macroscopic Hall and thermoelectric measurements and the microscopic electrical and geometrical properties of the material is derived. A suitable combination of both Hall and thermoelectric measurements on the same sample makes it possible to determine the dominant average microscopic and geometric parameters of the system. Although developed under the stimulus of research into the photoconductivity mechanism in chemically deposited lead sulfide layers, the results of the consideration may have a wider application.