Cleavage energies in semiconductors

We present a method for the calculation of the surface and cleavage energies, Eγ, for semiconductors, based on a tight-binding Green’s function approach and a difference-equation solution for the layered structure. Energies are calculated for a representative group of semiconductors, and cleavage energies are found to agree well with the available experimental data. We find ESiγ(111)=1360 ergs/cm2, and Eγ(110)=1000, 180, and 120 ergs/cm2 for GaAs, CdTe, and HgTe, respectively.