Is there a semiconductor expert out there? I'm wondering what numbers
to use for the density-of-states effective masses of electrons and
holes in silicon. Kittel and Kroemer (chapter 13) give 1.06 and 0.58
times the bare electron mass for electrons and holes, respectively.
But my local solid-state physicist says 1.06 is way too high, referring
me to the book by Sze, which says the d-of-s effective mass is the
geometric mean of the effective masses in the three directions,
which it gives as .98, .19, and .19, respectively. The geometric
mean would then be only .33. (For holes there's hardly any
discrepancy.) Can anyone tell me why there might be such a
discrepancy, and which number I should use, say, in computing the
chemical potential of pure silicon at room temperature?
With many thanks,
Dan Schroeder
Weber State University
dschroeder@cc.weber.edu