ELECTRON-HOLE LIQUID IN SIC

We present calculations of the ground-state properties of the electron-hole liquid in cubic SiC. We have used the theory of the e-h liquid recently developed by two of us, and have extended it to include the valence-band coupling in the zinc-blende structure when spin orbit coupling is negligible. For =0 the ground-state energy EG, the Fermi energy EF, and the equilibrium density ne are, respectively, 42.0 meV, 44.1 meV, and 1.65 × 1019 cm-3. For =, we obtain, instead; EG=39.3 meV, 40.9 meV, and 1.1 × 1019 cm-3. In SiC neither of these two limits is strictly valid, but the spread in values is small and the results are in excellent agreement with recent experiments. © 1979 The American Physical Society.