Charge Redistribution and Piezoelectric Constants

Abstract

The contributions of internal strain and charge redistribution to the piezoelectric constants of tetrahedrally coordinated ${A}^{N}{B}^{8\ensuremath{-}N}$ crystals are discussed. It is shown that the reversal of sign of the piezoelectric constant on going from $N=1 \mathrm{and} 2$ to $N=3$ can be explained quantitatively in terms of the dependence of charge redistribution on bond ionicity.