Electronic structure of stressed CrSi2

We present electronic properties of CrSi2 under isotropic and anisotropic stress. Theoretical calculations were performed using the full-potential linearized-augmented-plane-wave method. The isotropic stress of the crystal leads to an almost linear variation of the direct and indirect transitions as a function of the lattice parameter, whereas anisotropic deformations result in more complicated dependencies. Uniaxial stretching of the lattice up to 106% converts chromium disilicide into a direct-gap semiconductor with a fundamental gap of about 0.3 eV. The compression of the lattice up to 94% changes the symmetry of the transitions.