A Model Dielectric Function for Semiconductors

Abstract

The microscopic dielectric function is calculated for a simple model of a semiconductor, originally proposed by Penn, in which the energy bands and wave functions are those of a one-dimensional, nearly free electron system, isotropically extended to three dimensions. The dielectric function is evaluated numerically so that all unnecessary approximations are avoided. The relationship between the static dielectric constant and the energy gap is found to be[Formula: see text]where S0 is about 0.6. The results for finite wave vectors, for a range of energy gaps, have been fitted to an interpolation formula to facilitate their use.