Homopolar band gap and thermal activation parameters of plasticity of diamond and zinc-blende semiconductors

It is known from earlier work that the activation energies of dislocation glide and diffusion-controlled climb of semiconductors with diamond and zinc-blende structures are correlated. It is shown in the present work in a semiempirical approach that both energies are proportional to Phillips' homopolar band gap. A single relationship for all these materials is deduced, which is in agreement with the experimental data. Equivalently, both activation energies are related to the product of shear modulus and lattice constant which is a measure of the force constant. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(00)01707-2].