Cooling by Thermodynamic Induction

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 case 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.