Theory of carrier electronic structure and some related quantities of n-type SnTe

We present a theory of the electronic structure calculation for SnTe, based on a (k) over right arrow . (pi) over right arrow method ((pi) over right arrow being the momentum operator in the presence of the spin-orbit interaction). The calculation envisages a six-level basis for the energy states at the L-point of the Brillouin zone. The (k) over right arrow . (pi) over right arrow Hamiltonians for the band-edge states are diagonalized exactly, and the far bands are treated using second-order perturbation theory. We obtain non-parabolic dispersion for the carriers. We calculate the Fermi energy, the density of states, the effective mass and the g-factors using the cylindrical coordinate system for the (k) over right arrow -space integration wherever occurring. All these quantities are calculated and studied as functions of carrier concentration for n-type SnTe. We could not compare our carrier-concentration-dependent quantities with some experimental parameters due to unavailability, but the extrapolated band-edge values of the effective masses and the g-factors agree fairly well with the values obtained by previous calculations. In view of the recent interest in the carrier-induced magnetism in semiconductors, our values would be of interest to both theorists and experimentalists.