Microhardness of tetrahedrally bonded elemental and binary semiconductors

An analysis of experimental microhardness data shows that the microhardness at room temperature of the diamond, zincblende and wurtzite structure compounds follows the simple relation H = h_oa^−xT_m(1 –g_of_i) where a is the lattice parameter T_m the melting temperature, f_i the spectroscopically defined bond ionicity and h_o, x, and g_o are constants having the same values for all compounds. The close relation between microhardness and bulk modulus is discussed.