Estimation of the cleavage force of crystalline semiconductors with diamond and zinc-blende structure

The cleavage force in several semiconductors with diamond and zinc-blende structure is studied within a simplified approach. It is shown that the cleavage in these systems is characterized by maximum forces from 0.45×1010 to 1.33×1010 N/m2. For most of the crystals, the cleavage planes are in correspondence with the experimental data.