Numerical Analysis of Electro-Thermal Phenomena in Metal by Boltzmann Transport Equation for Electron

By the development of micro-fabrication technology, much smaller-size electronic devices will be soon available. In such a smaller device, a non-equilibrium state might appear in metal and/or semiconductor. In this case, it is difficult to estimate the device performance by the macroscopic transport equations that assume quasi-equilibrium distribution. We are developing a numerical simulation based on Boltzmann transport equation (BTE), which can analyze thermal and electric phenomena even when the state is far from equilibrium. In this study, we show a new formulation of BTE for free electron in metal and its calculation result: the thermoelectric power obtained agreed with that of experimental value: the heat flux derived by the non-equilibrium distribution was two-orders small than that estimated by thermal conductivity.