SCANNING THERMOELECTRIC MICROSCOPE THEORY

Publication Date

4-5-2019

Document Type

Poster

Degree Type

Undergraduate

Department

Physics

Mentor

Justin Bergfield

Mentor Department

Physics

Abstract

A scanning tunneling microscope measures the charge transport into an atomically sharp tip in response to an applied voltage and has revolutionized how we “see” at the nanoscale. In response to an applied temperature difference, current flows until a voltage is built up to oppose the flow. The ratio of the voltage to the temperature difference is a measurable quantity known as the thermopower. Although thermoelectric devices are important for a variety of heating and cooling applications, we propose that the thermopower is also of interest as a microscopic observable because it is a probe of the second moment of the transport. In this work, we derive the theory necessary to describe this new microscopic technique. We also simulate several images produced by a scanning thermopower probe (SThM) and discuss the implications of the technique.

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