Coupled transport of phonons and carriers in semiconductors: A case study of <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mi>n</mml:mi></mml:math>-doped GaAs

Abstract

Transport in a coupled system of electrons and phonons is a problem of both fundamental and technological importance. Calculations typically assume that one of the species is in equilibrium when considering transport in the other. However, the electron-phonon interaction drags, in principle, both subsystems out of equilibrium. Here, the authors solve the coupled electron-phonon Boltzmann transport equations, demonstrating significant enhancement of the mobility and the Seebeck coefficient in GaAs in the strong drag regime as well as the validity of the Kelvin relation, mandated by thermodynamics.