Surface phase transitions of silicon in the presence of a dense electron-hole plasma

Abstract A thermodynamic equation is given, that relates the surface phase transitions with phonon-defect- electron interactions. It permits the calculation of the variation of the phase transition temperatures, T c , with the density of an electron-hole plasma in silicon. Under conditions met in short-pulse laser irradiation, it is shown that T c might differ from thermal values. Also, temperature calculations derived from LEED experiments might be in error, due to electron-phonon couplings.