Transverse thermoelectric devices

Multilayer structures A–B–A⋅⋅⋅ consisting of alternating layers of a metal A and a semiconductor B can show large anisotropy in their transport properties. In tilted multilayer structures, where layer planes and sample surface include a nonzero tilt angle, nonvanishing off-diagonal elements in the sample’s transport tensors lead to transverse Seebeck and Peltier effects. Achievable temperature differences and figures of merit for transverse Peltier cooling are discussed and compared with experiments, coefficients of performance for transverse power generation are calculated.