Pseudopotential Calculation of the Piezoelectric Constant of GaAs

Abstract

AbstractA theory of the piezoelectricity of zincblende type lattices is presented. The piezoelectric polarization in a uniformly strained crystal is produced by the internal displacements of the two core ion sublattices and the distortion of the valence electron distribution. The latter is calculated applying first order perturbation theory to the empirical pseudopotential method. The computational work has been carried out for GaAs. Satisfactory agreement between theoretical and experimental values of the piezoelectric constant is achieved if the deformable ion model is applied to empirical pseudopotentials. As a test for the accuracy of the numerical calculation the transverse effective charge is evaluated.