Floating Electron States in Covalent Semiconductors

We report first-principles electronic-structure calculations that clarify the floating nature of electron states in covalent semiconductors. It is found that wave functions of several conduction- and valence-band states, including the conduction-band minima, do not distribute near atomic sites, as was taken for granted, but float in interstitial channels in most semiconductors. The directions and shapes of the interstitial channels depend on the crystal symmetry so that mysterious variation of the energy gaps in SiC polymorphs is naturally explained by considering the floating nature.