PHYSICAL-PROPERTIES OF SEMIMETALS OF THE BISMUTH-TYPE

Research on the galvanomagnetic and thermoelectric phenomena in bismut h and bismuth-antimony alloys, carried out for the most part under the guidance of A. R. Regel', is reviewed. Study of the dispersion relati on and charge-carrier relaxation in these materials led to an explanat ion of the observed behavior of the thermoelectric figure of merit as a function of external agents. This explanation in turn made it possib le to develop several devices exploiting this behavior. (C) 1995 Ameri can Institute of Physics.