Year: 2010
Type: article
Abstract: We study heating effects in a chain of weakly coupled grains due to electron-hole pair creation. The main mechanism for the latter at low temperatures is due to inelastic electron cotunneling processes in the array. We develop a quantitative kinetic theory for these systems and calculate the array temperature profile as a function of grain parameters, bias voltage or current, and time and show that for nanoscale size grains the heating effects are pronounced and easily measurable in experiments. In the low- and high-voltage limits we solve the stationary heat-flux equation analytically. We demonstrate the overheating hysteresis in the large-current or voltage regimes. In addition we consider the influence of a substrate on the system which acts as a heat sink. We show that nanodot chains can be used as highly sensitive thermometers over a broad range of temperatures.
Source: Physical Review B
Language: English
Subfield: Condensed Matter Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2024116948