Structure and Bonding Parameters in Ternary and Multinary Compounds

A new approach to the study of the structural properties of semiconductors is presented. It is based on a semiclassical approximation which allows us to obtain the structural properties directly from the knowledge of the crystal pseudopotential. Since it leeds to analytic expression, this approach is well suited to elucidate the connections between the crystal structure and the bonding parameters. The relations with previous semi-empirical methods are discussed, with particular attention to the method of the average nuclear effective charge. The metallization trends in multinary compounds are analysed in detail and an interpretation is given in terms of a critical length for the covalent bond