Thermoelectric Effects in Planar Tunnel Junctions

The thermopower and the charge current generated by the finite temperature gradient applied to ferromagnetic planar tunnel junctions are investigated in the spin-polarized free-electron-like one-band model. It has been shown that the current depends almost linearly on the temperature difference between the electrodes while the thermopower does not depend significantly on the temperature gradient. The studied quantities depend on the magnetic configuration of the junction. The form of this dependence is sensitive to the height of the barrier, but is not sensitive to the temperature difference between the electrodes.