Abstract
We briefly review the thermal conductivity and thermoelectricity of semiconductors. This subject has more than 100-year history since Drude established his kinetic theory of an electron gas in 1900, so that we will focus on recent developments, particularly shedding light on nanotechnology. We begin with the Boltzmann equations for electrons and phonons, and review thermal conductivities of various semiconductors. Then we discuss the thermoelectric effects—cross correlation phenomena between electrical and thermal currents. Thanks to the thermoelectric phenomena, electricity can be converted into heat, and vise versa, which is called thermoelectrics. In addition, we show that nanotechnology raises difficult questions to our understanding of thermal conduction.
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