Effect of Coulomb correlations in a variable-valence impurity system and phonon drag on the thermoelectric constants in two-dimensional systems

The temperature behavior of the longitudinal Nernst-Ettingshausen coefficient in 2D systems is studied theoretically taking account of phonon drag and Coulomb correlations in a system of mixed-valence impurities at low temperatures. It is shown that the effect changes sign at the transition from entrainment to scattering by a correlated system of impurity centers. A sign change does not occur in the case of scattering by randomly distributed impurity centers. This temperature behavior of the Nernst-Ettingshausen coefficient is due to the radical rearrangement of the impurity system as a result of strong Coulomb correlations present in a system of impurities with mixed valence. As a result, the character of the scattering of charge carriers by the correlated system of charge centers changes substantially. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 40, 553–556 (March 1998)