RAPID COMMUNICATION: Thermopower study of electron-doped La2 - xCexCuO4 films

We investigate the temperature dependent thermopower of electron-doped La2-xCexCuO4 (LCCO) thin films at three different doping levels. The films were prepared by the dc magnetron sputtering method. Our preliminary measurements along with the corresponding results for the resistivity and Hall coefficient suggest that a two-carrier model might be suitable for describing the transport properties of LCCO as well as other reported electron-doped cuprates. The two kinds of carriers in electron-doped cuprates seem to arise from the electronic structure near the Fermi surface of the CuO2 planes, independently of the different lanthanide cations constituting them.