title: Thermoelectric transport properties in atomic scale conductors.
abstract: The thermoelectric transport properties in atomic scale conductors consisting of a Si atom connected by two electrodes are investigated. It is found that both the electrical current and the heat current have two contributions, one from the voltage and the other from the temperature gradient. The quantities such as the Seebeck thermopower and the thermal conductance that characterize the thermoelectric transport properties of the tunnel atomic junction are studied quantitatively with a first-principles technique within the framework of Landauer-Buttiker formalism in the linear response regime. A finite thermopower only exists in a very narrow range where the energy derivative of the transmission function is nonzero. The thermopower anomaly is observed in the tunneling regime in this device but this does not violate the thermodynamic law with respect to the heat current.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Materials Physics, Institute of Solid State Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230031, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xiaohong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Yadong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Zhi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang