Abstract:

A method is described for cooling conductive channels to below ambient
temperature. The thermodynamic induction principle dictates that the electrically
biased channel will cool if the electrical conductance decreases with temperature. The
extent of this cooling is calculated in detail for both cases of ballistic and conventional
transport with specific calculations for carbon nanotubes and conventional metals,
followed by discussions for semiconductors, graphene, and metal–insulator transition
systems. A theorem is established for ballistic transport stating that net cooling is
not possible. For conventional transport, net cooling is possible over a broad temperature
range, with the range being size-dependent. A temperature clamping scheme
for establishing a metastable nonequilibrium stationary state is detailed and followed
with discussion of possible applications to on-chip thermoelectric cooling in integrated
circuitry and quantum computer systems.