Quantum dot superlattices (QDS) and quantum wire arrays (QWA) have been recently proposed for thermoelectric applications. Strong improvement of the thermoelectric properties in such structures is expected only if the structure parameters are carefully tuned to achieve desired carrier and phonon transport characteristics. The latter motivates this theoretical study of carrier and phonon spectra in such nanostructures. In this paper we present our approaches for calculating thermoelectric characteristics in three-dimensional regimented QDS and QWA. Based on our model, we carry out structure optimization for p-type QDS of InAs/GaAs, Ge/Si, and PbSe_0.98Te_0.02/PbTe. We show that when conditions for mini-band formation are satisfied, carrier transport in such structures can be tuned in a favorable way leading to large carrier mobility, Seebeck coefficient, and the thermoelectric figure-of-merit. To maximize the improvement one has to tune the parameters of QDS in such a way that electrical current is mostly through the well-separated below-the-barrier mini-bands of relatively large width of several k_BT [1].

[1]. A.A. Balandin and O.L. Lazarenkova, Appl. Phys. Lett., 82, 415 (2003).