Resistivity measurements in silicon compressed by shock waves

Measurements of the relative resistance, $\text{R}\text{R}{}_0$, of p-type Silicon loaded by shock wave compression in the 〈 111 〉 direction, are reported. Stress amplitudes in the silicon were from 7 kb up to about 60kb.Electrical resistivity was found monotonically decreasing down to the ratio $\text{R}\text{R}{}_0$ ~ 0.14 at a stress amplitude of 34 kb. Then a sharp decrease to conducting state was detected at stresses over 56 kb.In the lower stress region the results are in agreement with theoretical calculations by Goroff and Kleinman 1]. The metallic transition observed in the neighbourhood of the Hugoniot Elastic Limit (55 kb) is suggested to be related to activation of plastic slip.