The thermopowers and resistivities of the primary solid solutions of zinc, gallium, germanium and arsenic in copper

Abstract

The thermopowers from 5°K to 290°K of some alloys, which are solid solutions of zinc, gallium, germanium and arsenic in copper, are presented. Most of the main features of the room temperature concentration dependence are predicted by the Nordheim-Gorter relationship. The characteristic thermopowers of zinc, gallium, germanium and arsenic in copper at 290°K are: At 10°K the characteristic thermopowers of gallium, germanium and arsenic in copper are 0.00±0.05 μV/°K. A resurgence of the phonon-drag peak is found in all four systems, and the relative concentrations at which this occurs suggest that the resurgence is an electron to atom ratio phenomenon. It is suggested that the resurgence may indicate the approach of the Fermi surface to the {200} faces of the Brillouin zone. The phonon-drag peak occurs at the same value of the reduced temperature T/θR, where θR, is the Bloch-Grüneisen characteristic temperature, for alloys with zinc, gallium and germanium as solutes.