Abstract
Examination of experimental results reveals a correlation between the free‐surface band‐bending and the value of the metal‐semiconductor barrier extrapolated to zero electronegativity. Further, in materials with relatively high surface‐state densities, the free‐surface Fermi level Esf shows only a small variation for a range of semiconductors. It is proposed that this pinning is associated with the electronegativity of the anion. Formulas are presented for the prediction of barrier heights on a wide range of compound semiconductor alloys.