Current-induced forces and hot spots in biased nanojunctions

Phys Rev Lett. 2015 Mar 6;114(9):096801. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.096801. Epub 2015 Mar 4.

Abstract

We investigate theoretically the interplay of current-induced forces (CIFs), Joule heating, and heat transport inside a current-carrying nanoconductor. We find that the CIFs, due to the electron-phonon coherence, can control the spatial heat dissipation in the conductor. This yields a significant asymmetric concentration of excess heating (hot spot) even for a symmetric conductor. When coupled to the electrode phonons, CIFs drive different phonon heat flux into the two electrodes. First-principles calculations on realistic biased nanojunctions illustrate the importance of the effect.