On the modeling of lattice thermal conductivity in semiconductor quantum dot superlattices

A theoretical model for the cross-plane lattice thermal conductivity in semiconductor quantum dot superlattices was presented. Scattering of acoustic phonons on quantum dots was taken into account for the model which was based on continuum approximation. It was found that the thermal phonon wave can be represented by a sum of plane waves affected by the scattering on acoustically mismatched obstacles. It was also suggested that the proposed model is applicable in cases where dot volume fraction is relatively small or dot and host materials have close acoustic properties.