Stress-Induced Phase Change of Single-Crystalline InSb

The covalent-metallic transition pressure of InSb depends on the direction of uniaxial stress applied to a single crystal specimen. The lowest transition pressure was 18 kbar in contrast to 31.5 kbar under pure hydrostatic pressure. Uniaxial stress applied on (100) was the most inefficient to precipitate the transition. From X-ray studies on single crystals, in addition to the above result, it is inferred that a simple process of contraction in one direction and dilatation in the other two directions does not seem to occur at the phase transition.