k·p Calculation of Effective Masses in Zinc-Blende Semiconductors

The conduction-band and valence-band effective-mass parameters have been calculated for 11 zinc-blende semiconductors. The k·{}p method is used to calculate these effective masses in the vicinity of $k=0$. The matrix elements of pₓ are found using pseudowave functions determined by the empirical pseudopotential method. Cohen and Bergstresser's pseudopotential parameters are employed. The calculated conduction-band masses are within 10% of the experimental values. The valence band masses are known experimentally for InSb and GaSb. Thus, our results provide information on the largely unknown valence band masses. We also discuss the errors caused by using pseudowave functions instead of real wave functions.