Field emission cooling of thermoelectric semiconductor PbTe

We report a theoretical analysis of the cooling effect due to field emission from n-type PbTe, a typical thermoelectric material. We show that, by calculating the average energies of field and replacement electrons, the energy exchange in field emission from n-type PbTe always produces cooling. The resultant heat loss leads to cooling of up to a few tenths of an electron volt per field emitted electron. For n-type PbTe, the Nottingham energy exchange in field emission can be comparable to or greater than the Peltier coefficient.