An empirical model for dielectric constant and electronic polarizability of binary (ANB8-N) and ternary (ANB2+NC27-N) tetrahedral semiconductors

An overview of the understanding of correlation between valence electron and the optical properties of binary (A(N)B(8-N)) and ternary (A(N)B(2+N)C(2)(7-N)) tetrahedral semiconductors is presented here. We have presented two expressions relating the dielectric constant and electronic polarizability for the transition metal chalcogenides and pnictides (A(II)B(VI) and A(III)B(V)) and chalcopyrites (A(I)B(III)C(2)(VI) and A(II)B(IV)C(2)(V)) with the product of valence electrons and nearest neighbour distance d (angstrom). The dielectric constant and electronic polarizability of these solids exhibit a linear relationship when plotted on a log-log scale against the nearest neighbour distance d (angstrom), but fall on different straight lines according to the valence electron product of the compounds. We have applied the proposed relation on these solids and found a better agreement with the experimental data as compared to the values evaluated by earlier researchers. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.