Correlation of Schottky constants with interatomic distances of selected I–VII and II–VI compounds

Abstract The observed linear (Na-, K-halides) and near-linear (Mg-, Sr-, Zn-, Cd-, and Hg-chalcogenides) dependences of Schottky constants on reciprocal interatomic distances yield the relation log K S = ( ( s s 1 / T ) + i s ) 1 / d ( A − B ) + ( s i 1 / T ) + i i , where K S is the product of metal and non-metal thermal equilibrium vacancy concentrations, and s s , i s , s i and i i are the group specific slope and intercept values obtained from an extended analysis of the above log  K S versus 1/ d ( A −B) data. The previously reported linear dependences of log  K S on the Born–Haber lattice energies [1] are the basis for combining the earlier results [1] with the Born–Mayer lattice energy equation to yield a new thermodynamic relationship, namely log K S = − ( 2.303 n R T ) − 1 ( c ( B − M ) / d ( A − B ) − I e ) , where c ( B − M ) is the product of the constants of the Born–Mayer equation and I e is the metal ionization energy of the above compounds. These results establish a correlation between point defect concentrations and basic thermodynamic, coulombic, and structural solid state properties for selected I–VII and II–VI semiconductor materials.