Determination of the Deformation-Potential Constant of the Conduction Band of Silicon from the Piezospectroscopy of Donors

A piezospectroscopic study of the Lyman spectra of arsenic, antimony, phosphorus, and magnesium donors in silicon has been made using a quantitative-stress cryostat. Within experimental error, all four impurities yield the same value for the shear-deformation-potential constant ${\Xi }_u$ of the $〈100〉$ conduction-band minima. The average value of ${\Xi }_u$ thus obtained is 8.77 ± 0.07 eV. The shift of the $1s\left(A_1\right)$ ground state under stress is characterized by a value of ${\Xi }_u$ which is lower than the above, viz., 8.3, 8.1, and 7.0 eV for antimony, phosphorus, and arsenic, respectively.