Seebeck coefficient ($S$)

The Seebeck coefficient $S(T)$ quantifies the thermoelectric voltage response per small temperature difference at zero electric current. Use $S=-dV/dT$ along a homogeneous material, with voltage understood through electrochemical potential. Its units are volts per kelvin, commonly $\mu V/K$. The word thermopower is also used, despite this being a voltage response rather than power; some authors use that word for $|S|$, so check their convention. ^[ref].

For the A-minus-B terminal order in the Seebeck effect experiment,Thus a small temperature difference around $T_0$ gives $V_{AB}\approx [S_A(T_0)-S_B(T_0)]\Delta T$. The finite-interval ratio $V_{AB}/\Delta T$ is an average of the coefficient difference, not necessarily its value at either endpoint. Ordinary two-material measurements determine a relative Seebeck coefficient: to recover $S_A$ from the measured difference, add a separately known $S_B$. Neither the choice of a zero for voltage nor the use of a familiar reference material makes $S_B$ identically zero.

A concrete research example is Martin and colleagues' 2021 certification experiment. They measured small temperature differences and voltages on six silicon–germanium specimens at 13 base temperatures between $295$ and $900\mathrm{K}$. At each setting they acquired 40 voltage-and-temperature-difference pairs and used linear regression with a free intercept, so a constant voltage offset did not become part of the slope. Platinum voltage leads required a reference-material correction; their terminal order gave $S_{\mathrm{measured}}=S_{\mathrm{Pt}}-S_{\mathrm{specimen}}$, hence $S_{\mathrm{specimen}}=S_{\mathrm{Pt}}-S_{\mathrm{measured}}$. This is an actual measurement protocol, unlike the toy plot above. ^[ref].

Microscopically, a temperature gradient changes charge carrier transport until an opposing electrical response balances it at zero net electric current. In the usual simple semiconductor picture, Electrons and electron holes give opposite Seebeck coefficient signs, and their contributions are weighted by their electrical conductivities. The Seebeck coefficient is a transport property: density of states alone does not determine it, since carrier motion and scattering also matter. Its usefulness extends beyond temperature sensing to diagnosing which carriers transport electric charge. ^[ref].