Thermoelectric effect in a bi-layer system

We show that an electric field appears in one layer of a bi-layer semiconductor system when a temperature gradient is applied in the other one. This trans-layer Seebeck effect exists on account of the inter-layer long-range electron-electron scattering and represents a generalization of the Coulomb drag phenomenon, defined as the mutual friction of two electron systems, to thermal perturbations. An effective thermopower coefficient alpha(D) is calculated within the random-phase approximation for the Coulomb interaction. At low temperature, alpha(D) is found to be directly proportional to the electron-electron scattering rate in 2D, tau(-1)(ee). (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.