Enhanced non-equilibrium Peltier cooling through electron gas expansion: A Monte Carlo simulation study

Abstract

We demonstrate enhanced Peltier cooling at the nanoscale using geometrical constriction. This nozzle structure leads to electron expansion under an applied bias, which in turn results in additional cooling. This extra cooling enhances the overall Peltier effect when the electrons are out of equilibrium with the lattice. An ensemble Monte Carlo simulation is used to demonstrate the non-equilibrium expansion of an electron gas using nanoscale trapezoidal geometric confinement. The proposed device operates under steady-state conditions, providing enhanced cooling compared to a one-dimensional flat geometry. We observe a five-fold increase in both the maximum cooling temperature and cooling power density, reaching more than 5 kW/cm², when comparing the trapezoidal geometry to the regular flat geometry.