Anomalous phonon renormalization in single crystal of silicon

Abstract

The temperature dependence of the first-order phonon mode of single crystal of Silicon (Si) is determined by Raman scattering in a broad temperature range of 4-623 K. Our studies reveal the anomalous red-shift of the Raman active phonon mode at temperature (~ 50 K) attributed to the anomalous expansion of Si in the low temperature region. Silicon shows negative thermal expansion below 120 K, however, odd behaviour is also observed at very low temperatures i.e., softening of the Si crystal is detected below 40 K. This peculiar behaviour of Si is described by the anomalous phonon anharmonicity observed at low temperature.