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We present direct measurements of the Peltier effect as a function of temperature from 77 to 325 K in Ni, Ni(80)Fe(20), and Fe thin films made using a suspended Si-N membrane structure. Measurement of the Seebeck effect in the same films allows us to directly test predictions of Onsager reciprocity between the Peltier and Seebeck effects. The Peltier coefficient Π is negative for both Ni and Ni(80)Fe(20) films and positive for the Fe film. The Fe film also exhibits a peak associated with the magnon drag Peltier effect. The observation of magnon drag in the Fe film verifies that the coupling between the phonon, magnon, and electron systems in the film is the same whether driven by heat current or charge current. The excellent agreement between Π values predicted using the experimentally determined Seebeck coefficient for these films and measured values offers direct experimental confirmation of the Onsager reciprocity between these thermoelectric effects in ferromagnetic thin films near room temperature.

We present experimental evidence of a transverse thermopower, or planar Nernst effect, in ferromagnetic metal thin films driven by thermal gradients applied in the plane of the films. Samples of 20 nm thick Ni and Ni(80)Fe(20) were deposited on 500 nm thick suspended Si-N thermal isolation platforms with integrated platinum strips designed originally to allow measurement of thermally generated spin currents (the spin Seebeck effect). The low thermal conductivity of the thin supporting Si-N structure results in an essentially 2D geometry that approaches the zero substrate limit, dramatically reducing the contribution of thermal gradients perpendicular to the sample plane typically found in similar experiments on bulk substrates. The voltage on the platinum strips generated transverse to the applied thermal gradient (V(T)) is linear with increasing ΔT and exhibits a sign reversal on hot and cold sides of the sample. However, V(T) is always even in applied magnetic field and shows a sinθ cosθ angular dependence, both key indicators of the planar Nernst effect. Within the 5 nV estimated error of our experiment there is no evidence of a signal from the spin Seebeck effect, which would have cosθ angular dependence, suggesting a reduced spin Seebeck coefficient in a planar, entirely thin-film geometry.

We report the thermal conductivity and specific heat of amorphous silicon thin films measured from 5-300 K using silicon-nitride membrane-based microcalorimeters. Above 50 K the thermal conductivity of thin-film amorphous silicon agrees with values previously reported by other authors. However, our data show no plateau, with a low T suppression of the thermal conductivity that suggests that the scattering of long wavelength, low Q vibrations goes as Q2. The specific heat shows Debye-like behavior below 15 K, with theta(D) = 487 +/- 5 K, and is consistent with a very small contribution of tunneling states in amorphous silicon. Above 15 K, the specific heat deviates less from Debye behavior than does its crystalline allotrope, indicating no significant excess modes (boson peak) in amorphous silicon.

We report on the doping dependence of the order of the ferromagnetic metal to paramagnetic insulator phase transition in La1-xCaxMnO3. At x=0.33, magnetization and specific heat data show a first order transition, with an entropy change (2.3 J/mol K) accounted for by both volume expansion and the discontinuity of M approximately 1.7mu(B) via the Clausius-Clapeyron equation. At x=0.4, the data show a continuous transition with tricritical point exponents alpha=0.48+/-0.06, beta=0.25+/-0.03, gamma=1.03+/-0.05, and delta=5.0+/-0.8. This tricritical point separates first- (x<0.4) from second-order (x>0.4) transitions.