PHONON EFFECTS IN THE THERMOELECTRIC-POWER OF IMPURE METALS

Using the quantum transport equations for interacting electrons and ph onons we study the phonon effects in the thermoelectric transport in i mpure metals. The contributions of both equilibrium phonons (the diffu sive part) and non-equilibrium phonons (the drag effect) are investiga ted. We show that the drag effect which dominates in the thermopower o f pure samples is strongly suppressed even by a small impurity concent ration owing to the inelastic electron-impurity scattering processes. As a result we find the form of the phonon drag thermopower of an impu re metal taking into account both normal and Umklapp processes of the electron-phonon scattering.