The application of a simple three‐parameter fit to the temperature dependence of semiconductor band gaps is justified on both practical and theoretical grounds. In all trials the fit is numerically better than that obtained using the widely quoted Varshni equation. The formula is shown to be compatible with reasonable assumptions about the influence of phonons on the band‐gap energy. Approximate analytical expressions are derived for the entropy and enthalpy of formation of electron‐hole pairs in semiconductors.
REFERENCES
1.
2.
3.
L.
Viña
, S.
Logothetidis
, and M.
Cardona
, Phys. Rev. B
30
, 1979
(1984
).4.
The Varshni relation is quoted by S. M. Sze, in Semiconductor Devices (Wiley New York, 1985), p. 13 and by Jacques I. Pankove, in Optical Processes in Semiconductors (Dover, New York, 1975), p. 27.
5.
A recent example is
Z. M.
Fang
, K. Y.
Ma
, D. H.
Jaw
, R. M.
Cohen
, and G. B.
Stringfellow
, J. Appl. Phys.
67
, 7034
(1990
).6.
7.
T.
Donofrio
, G.
Lamarche
, and J. C.
Woolley
, J. Appl. Phys.
57
, 1932
(1985
).8.
A. T.
Collins
, S. C.
Lawson
, Gordon
Davies
, and H.
Kanda
, Phys. Rev. Lett.
65
, 891
(1990
).9.
Philip B.
Allen
and Volker
Heine
, J. Phys. C Solid State Phys.
9
, 2305
(1976
), and references therein.10.
P.
Lantenschlager
, P. B.
Allen
, and M.
Cardona
, Phys. Rev. B
31
, 2163
(1985
)., Phys. Rev. B
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
J. M. Ziman, Electrons and Phonons (Oxford University, Oxford, 1960), p. 154.
This content is only available via PDF.
© 1991 American Institute of Physics.
1991
American Institute of Physics
You do not currently have access to this content.