Ultrasonic attenuation and nonlinearity constant in silicon in the temperature range 73–293 K

The temperature dependence of the nonlinearity constant in silicon has been studied for longitudinal waves along 〈111〉 axis and for shear waves along 〈100〉 axis in the temperature range 73–293 K. The temperature dependence of the nonlinearity constant estimated from second-order elastic constant and third-order elastic constants has been further used to evaluate the ultrasonic attenuation at 480 MHz along 〈111〉 axis for (i) silicon with 1018 oxygen atoms per cubic centimeter, (ii) silicon with less than 1015 oxygen atoms per cubic centimeter and also at 495 MHz along 〈100〉 axis for shear waves. The estimated values of attenuation have been compared with the measured values available in the literature. The estimated temperature dependence of the nonlinearity constant has been further compared with that obtained for the measured values of attenuation. The estimated nonlinearity constant increases with temperature for longitudinal waves, whereas it shows a negative temperature coefficient for shear waves. The results are similar to those obtained for Ge and Cu.