We present an ab initio theoretical approach to accurately describe phonon thermal transport in semiconductors and insulators free of adjustable parameters. This technique combines a Boltzmann formalism with density functional calculations of harmonic and anharmonic interatomic force constants. Without any fitting parameters, we obtain excellent agreement ͑Ͻ5% difference at room temperature͒ between the calculated and measured intrinsic lattice thermal conductivities of silicon and germanium. As such, this method may provide predictive theoretical guidance to experimental thermal transport studies of bulk and nanomaterials as well as facilitating the design of new materials.

Preliminary results for the phonon dispersion curves of hexagonal 4H-SiC from experimental inelastic neutron (INS) and X-ray scattering (IXS) are reported and contrasted with those of cubic 3C-SiC and silicon. The experimental frequencies and scattering intensities are in excellent agreement with those from first-principles calculations using density-functional methods. The relative merits of the two experimental techniques and aspects of the density functional perturbation theory and the so-called frozen phonon method for the determination of the basic phonon properties are briefly outlined.

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Preliminary results for the phonon dispersion curves of hexagonal 4H-SiC from experimental inelastic neutron (INS) and X-ray scattering (IXS) are reported and contrasted with those of cubic 3C-SiC and silicon. The experimental frequencies and scattering intensities are in excellent agreement with those from first-principles calculations using density-functional methods. The relative merits of the two experimental techniques and aspects of the density functional perturbation theory and the so-called frozen phonon method for the determination of the basic phonon properties are briefly outlined.