Debye temperature and melting point of II-VI and III-V semiconductors

In this paper, simple relations are proposed for the calculation of Debye temperature theta(D) and melting point T-m of II-VI and III-V zincblende semiconductors. Six relations are proposed to calculate the value of theta(D). Out of these six relations, two are based on plasmon energy data and the others on molecular weight, melting point, ionicity and energy gap. Three simple relations are proposed to calculate the value of T-m. They are based on plasmon energy, molecular weight and ionicity of the semiconductors. The average percentage deviation of all nine equations was calculated. In all cases, except one, it was estimated between 3.34 to 17.42 % for theta(D) and between 2.37 to 10.45 % for T-m. However, in earlier correlations, it was reported between 10.59 to 33.38% for theta(D) and 6.96 to 14.95% for T-m. The lower percentage deviation shows a significant improvement over the empirical relations proposed by earlier workers. The calculated values of theta(D) and T-m from all equations are in good agreement with the available experimental values and the values reported by different workers. (c) 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim