Several models of thermionic energy nanoconverters have been proposed to study the transport phenomena that take place in electronic devices. For example, in resonant tunneling junctions those phenomena are manifested through the thermoelectric effects. The coupling between the electron flux and the heat flux in this type of semiconductor heterostructures, not only allows to obtain transport coefficients (electrical and thermal conductivities, and a Seebeck-like and Peltier-like coefficients), but also to study its operation as a thermionic generator or as a refrigerator within the context of irreversible thermodynamics. The existence of the characteristic steady states that can be reached by any linear energy converter led us to characterize a family of Seebeck-like coefficients, as well as establish bounds for the values of a kind of figure of merit $\left(T{z}_{D,I}^{\prime }\right)$, both associated with the well-known operating regimes: minimum dissipation function, maximum power output, maximum efficiency and maximum compromise function. By taking as example an Al${}_x$GaAs/GaAs junction, we found that the transport coefficients depend strongly on temperature and the conduction band height, which can be modulated according to the selected operation mode.

已经提出了几种热电子能量纳米转换器的模型来研究电子设备中发生的传输现象。例如，在共振隧道结中，这些现象通过热电效应得以体现。在这种类型的半导体异质结构中，电子通量和热通量之间的耦合不仅允许获得传输系数（电导率和热导率，以及类似塞贝克和珀耳帖的系数），而且还可以将其研究为热离子发生器或在不可逆热力学范围内作为冰箱。任何线性能量转换器都可以达到的特征稳态的存在，使我们能够表征一系列塞贝克系数，$（Ť{ž}_{d，\mathrm{一世}}^{\prime }）$，两者都与众所周知的工作机制相关：最小的耗散功能，最大的功率输出，最大的效率和最大的折衷功能。以铝为例${}_X$在GaAs / GaAs结中，我们发现传输系数在很大程度上取决于温度和导带高度，可以根据所选的工作模式对其进行调制。