VALENCE BAND STRUCTURE OF SNTE

Room-temperature electrical and thermal properties of p-type SnTe for the carrier concentration range 4 × 1019-2 × 1021 cm-3 have been quantitatively explained using a two-valence-band model in which the principal light mass band is always highly non-parabolic and the heavy mass band is parabolic. Band parameters of the model were determined. The theory was based on Cohen's dispersion law for energy surfaces with rotation plus reflection symmetry. The close similarity in band structure between SnTe and PbTe was established. It appeared that the 300°K band parameters of SnTe were very similar to the 0°K band parameters of PbTe, given by Rogers, but the energy separation between valence band edges was much greater in SnTe. Intravalley acoustic-mode lattice scattering was always dominant at room temperature.