Estimation of the thermal band gap of a semiconductor from seebeck measurements

It is shown that the magnitude of the Seebeck coefficient of a semiconductor has a maximum value that is close to one-half the energy gap divided by eT. An expression for the position of the Fermi level at which the Seebeck coefficient has a maximum or minimum value is derived, with account taken of the mobility and effective mass ratios. It is concluded that measurement of the Seebeck coefficient as a function of temperature on any novel semiconductor is one of the simplest ways of estimating its band gap.