1011.3008 (J. S. Milne et al.)

Piezoresistance in silicon up to 3 GPa    [PDF]

J. S. Milne, I. Favorskiy, A. C. H. Rowe, S. Arscott, Ch. Renner

The room-temperature longitudinal piezoresistance of n-type and p-type
crystalline silicon along selected crystal axes is investigated under uniaxial
compressive stresses larger than any previously reported. While the conductance
($G$) of n-type silicon eventually saturates at $\approx 45%$ of its
zero-stress value ($G_0$) in accordance with the charge transfer model, in
p-type material $G/G_0$ increases above a predicted limit of $\approx 4.5$
without any significant saturation, even at 3 GPa. Calculation of $G/G_0$ using
\textit{ab-initio} density functional theory reveals that neither $G$ nor the
mobility, when properly averaged over the hole distribution, saturate at
stresses lower than 3 GPa. The lack of saturation has important consequences
for strained silicon technologies.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1011.3008