Electrothermally driven current vortices in inhomogeneous bipolar semiconductors

We report an effect that occurs in semiconductors where internal electrical fields interact with a temperature gradient. Steady current vortices and a magnetic field develop in the system, even without external carrier injection. The effect is electrodynamic, energy dissipative, and fundamentally distinct from any previously described electrothermal effects. In bipolar structures the effective thermopower can be significantly modified by the vortices. Joule heating arising from the vortices reduces the thermal conductivity by an amount comparable to the electronic thermal conductivity.