Peak in the magnetic-field dependence of diffusion-induced thermopower for n-Bi-Sb semiconducting alloys

A peak is detected on the dependence of the diffusion-induced thermopower on transverse magnetic field in degenerate semiconducting alloys n-Bi_1?x Sb_x (0.07≤x≤0.15) doped with tellurium donor impurity. The temperature gradient is directed along the bisector axis C ₁ of the monocrystalline sample and the magnetic field is along the triad axis C ₃. The electron spectrum of the Bi-Sb alloys under investigation consists of three equivalent ellipsoids with distinctly different effective masses along the axes of the ellipsoid (m _∥/m _⊥). A simple kinetic theory shows that the presence of the peak on the diffusion thermopower is a manifestation of this strong anisotropy in the electron spectrum and of the additive contribution of all three ellipsoids to electron transport. The nonmonotonic dependence of thermopower on the transverse magnetic field makes it possible to determine the electron relaxation time, while the temperature dependence of this relaxation time can be used to separate the relaxation time for electrons scattered from ionized impurities and from acoustic phonons.     

Electron relaxation mechanisms in n-Bi-Sb semiconducting alloys

The magnetic field dependence of diffusion thermal electromotive force α₂₂(H) (?T ∥ C ₁) in degenerate n-Bi-Sb semiconducting alloys, in which only L electrons participate in transfer phenomena, had a maximum at H ∥ C ₃. The electron relaxation time was determined from the magnetic field value corresponding to this maximum. The dependences of the electron relaxation time on temperature and the concentration of alloy components and the dopant (on the concentration of electrons) were used to separate electron relaxation time components corresponding to scattering by phonons, ionized impurities, and component concentration fluctuations. The latter (“alloy”) mechanism of electron scattering by concentration fluctuations was for the first time considered for Bi-Sb alloys; its contribution was found to be comparable with those of the other scattering mechanisms. The obtained relaxation times were used to calculate theoretical magnetic field dependences of thermal electromotive force and the Nernst-Ettingshausen coefficient. The calculation results were in satisfactory agreement with experiment.     

Magnetic field effects on the phonon thermal electromotive force in n-Bi-Sb semiconducting alloys

The phonon thermal electromotive force component α₂₂ (?T ‖ C ₁) prevails in n-Bi_{1 ? x} Sb_x (0.07≤x≤0.16) semiconducting alloys at low temperatures. This component increases by almost an order of magnitude in a classically strong transverse magnetic field H with H ‖ C ₃, which results in an increase in thermoelectric efficiency. The transverse Nernst-Ettingshausen coefficient Q _{12, 3} (?T ‖ C ₁, H ‖ C ₃) changes sign from negative at T > 10 K to positive at T < 10 K. The observed characteristics of the phonon thermal electromotive force and the phonon transverse Nernst-Ettingshausen coefficient are explained in terms of the theory of electron-phonon drag for electrons with a strongly anisotropic spectrum.     

On the concentration dependence of transport coefficients in amorphous transition metal alloys

We discuss the concentration dependence of resistivity of CuTM (TM  Ti, Zr, Hf) amorphous alloys within a framework of a two-band model in which the s-states dominate conduction at the Cu end while the conduction of the d-states becomes increasingly important at TM rich end. We present a simple empirical relation that well describes the concentration dependence of the Hall coefficient and its sign reversal.     

The temperature dependence of magnetostrictive coefficients of Gd-Tb alloys

Measurements of the magnetostrictive coefficients λ^γ,2, λ^α,2₁ and λ^α,2₂ have been made for a range of alloy compositions and temperatures. The variation of λ^γ,2 with temperature and composition is consistent with the proposition that the strains are due to single-ion type interactions.Although the accuracy of measurement of the λ^α,2₁ and λ^α,2₂ coefficients is lower and the range of composition over which measurement could be made more restricted the results from these measurements also support a single-ion model.     

Temperature dependence of transport coefficients in liquid and amorphous metals

We apply the muffin-tin effective medium approximation to calculate the temperature dependence of the resistivity and thermopower of amorphous and liquid metals. The results show unambiguously that a large resistivity is accompanied by a negative temperature coefficient, in agreement with the experimental situation. This behavior is shown to result from a pseudo-gap which opens in the one-particle spectrum due to strong scattering at the quasi zone boundary and which tends to close under an increase in temperature. In turn the thermopower is found to have non-trivial density and temperature dependences.     

Thermodynamic properties of ternary semiconducting alloys

Using the new information supplied by extended-x-ray-absorption-fine-structure measurements and the results of our structural model, we compute the bond probability of a few ternary semiconducting III–V and II–VI alloys as a function of temperature and composition in the framework of a modified quasi-chemical approximation. We derive the thermodynamic functions of mixing, considering both elastic and chemical contributions to the bond energies. We examine how the deviation from the full randomness affects the ordering of such alloys and we construct the phase diagrams in the region of phase separation. Possible formation of ordered compounds at low temperatures is predicted.     

Electric field gradients in semiconducting alloys

The results of recent perturbed angular correlation (PAC) experiments in semiconducting alloys are discussed. The observed temperature dependence of the electric field gradients (EFG) differs drastically from that of methals. The variation of the conduction electron density with temperature certainly influences the EFG but can not explain in general the data. A model developed for In₂Te₅ based on the change of the local electron density is discussed in detail.     

Kinetic theory of dense fluids. III. Density dependence of transport coefficients for dense gases

The viscosity coefficient obtained in a previous paper of this series is calculated as a function of density by developing the N-particle collision operator into a dynamic cluster expansion. The excess transport coefficient Δη is given in an exponential form,

$\text{Δν=ν}{}_0\text{exp}\text{∑}\text{l=1}\text{∞}\text{β}{}_{\mathrm{l}}\text{n}{}^{\mathrm{l}}\text{?1}$

where η₀ is the two-body Chapman-Enskog result for the transport coefficient, n is the density, and β_l is a density-independent quantity consisting of connected cluster contributions of (l + 2) particles. Therefore, the leading term β₁ consists of connected three-body cluster contributions. The excess shear viscosity coefficient is calculated for a monatomic hard-sphere fluid by computing β_l up to the three-body contributions and the result is compared with the molecular dynamics result by Ashurst and Hoover and also with the experimental data on Ar at 75°C. In spite of the crudity of the potential model used and the approximations made the agreement is good. The result can be improved if l-body clusters (l ? 4) are included in the calculation. The thermal conductivity coefficient can be obtained in a similar form by using exactly the same procedure used for the viscosity coefficient.     

Composition dependence of the electrical transport properties of amorphous transition metal alloys

Summary A quadratic composition dependence of the electrical resistivity of amorphous transition metal alloys has been investigated at room temperature. A very good agreement between the theoretical and the observed values has been obtained in the case of Ni_xZr_1−x and Cu_xZr_1−x for all compositions. The thermoelectric power was then correlated with the electrical resistivity satisfactorily for the Cu_xZr_1−x and Ni_xZr_1−x To speed up publication, the authors of this paper have agreed to not receive the proofs for correction.     

Comments on the temperature dependence of the electronic transport coefficients in ferromagnetic f-electron metals

Possibilities of formulation of a theory capable of describing the temperature behaviour of the electronic transport coefficients of f-electron crystal field-free systems on a broad temperature scale are discussed. The approach used by Balberg to study the spin-fluctuation resistivity in the vicinity of T_c is shown to be valid on the broad temperature scale if the scattering cross section is appropriately treated. The results of this approach are compared to that of de Gennes and Friedel and supplementary results for the thermoelectric power are presented.     

Variational principles for relativistic transport coefficients

Variational expressions for the transport coefficients of a one-component, relativistic gas are derived from the linearized relativistic Boltzmann equation for both quantum and classical gases. These expressions depend on functions _χ of the energy of the particles comprising the gas in such a way that: a) if _χ differs from a solution of the linearized Boltzmann equation by ε, then the value of the variational expression calculated with this _χ differs from the true value of the corresponding transport coefficient by ε²; and b) the value of the variational expression is always less than this true value. It is shown that values of the transport coefficients obtained by expanding _χ in a particular set of orthogonal polynomials and keeping only the first nontrivial term in the expansion are equivalent to those obtained using the Grad method of moments. It follows therefore that values obtained using this later method represent lower bounds on the true values. We also show that one can obtain simple, closed-form expressions for the various transport coefficients corresponding to an arbitrary number of terms in an expansion of the trial function _χ in the above-mentioned set of orthogonal polynomials. Finally we point out that all of our results can be carried over to the nonrelativistic case by taking the limit c → ∞.     

Structural characterization of pseudo-binary semiconducting alloys using molecular simulations

Monte Carlo simulations with the Keating model have been performed to predict the lattice constant and bond length variations with composition for pseudo-binary semiconducting alloys. In general, it is observed that the deviations of the lattice constants from Vegard's law predictions are larger as the lattice mismatch between the constituent binaries increases. Further, it is noted that these alloys have partial virtual crystal model characteristics and tend to be more towards the flexible (floppy) crystal limit as compared to the rigid crystal limit. The topological rigidity parameters are bond-type dependent. The angular deviations from perfect tetrahedral structure are also measured.     

A new perturbation theory for transport coefficients

The Green's function method for the calculation of orbital energies developed in the preceding paper is applied to the benzene molecule. It is confirmed that the lowest-order approximation for irreducible diagrams in our theory is equivalent to the usual self-consistent field theory. Higherorder corrections to orbital energies are calculated and theoretical and experimental results are compared.     

On possible semiconducting and superconducting phases in hexaboride alloys

Based on the fact that hexaborides exist within a certain range of valence-electron concentration possible solid solutions are proposed that allow a wide variation of physical parameters. Phases of the type Ln_{$\text{2}\text{3}$}³⁺B₆ and Na_{$\text{1}\text{2}$}Ln_{$\text{1}\text{2}$}³⁺B₆ should be magnetic semiconductors.     

Redistribution of electrons between ellipsoids in a magnetic field in the quantum limit range in n-Bi-Sb alloys

The magnetoresistivities ρ₂₂(H) and ρ₃₂(H) and the Hall coefficient R _32.1 for single-crystal samples of the n-Bi_0.93Sb_0.07 semiconducting alloy have been measured at low temperatures in magnetic fields up to H=14 T at H∥C ₂. The samples with three electron concentrations n ₁=1.25 × 10¹⁶ cm^s-3, n ₂=3.5×10¹⁶ cm^s-3, and n ₃=1.6×10¹⁷ cm^s-3 have been studied. The strong anisotropy of the electron spectrum of the alloys has made it possible to observe quantum oscillations of the magnetoresistivity ρ₂₂ (H) at H∥C ₂ for electrons of the secondary ellipsoids with the transition to the quantum limit in high magnetic fields. However, in the same magnetic fields, the quantization condition for electrons of the main ellipsoid is not satisfied. An increase in the energy of electrons of the secondary ellipsoids in the magnetic fields of the quantum limit leads to their migration to the main ellipsoid. After the complete migration, the Fermi energy for the alloy samples with the electron concentrations n ₁, n ₂, and n ₃ increases from 7.0 to 11.3 meV, from 11.0 to 17.1 meV, and from 20.2 to 30.6 meV, respectively. After the migration, the magnetoresistivity for electrons of the main ellipsoid increases with an increase in the magnetic field and the specific features in the behavior of the kinetic coefficients are observed in the vicinity of the magnetic field H=10 T. Therefore, the electronic topological transition from the three-valley electron spectrum to the single-valley electron spectrum occurs in the Bi_0.93Sb_0.07 single crystals for H∥C ₂ at low temperatures in the range of magnetic fields of the quantum limit.