Self-consistent Hartree–Fock energy levels of mesoscopic voids in tetrahedrally bonded semiconductors are calculated within the Haldane–Anderson model revealing a high-multiplicity Coulomb ladder of discrete charge-state energies distributed across the semiconductor band gap. These discrete states can compensate shallow dopants. In GaAs, voids with radii of only 5 nm can compensate as many as 25 charges of either sign, producing depletion spheres around the voids in dopedn-type orp-type material. The compensation and depletion behavior of the voids is similar to the behavior of metallic precipitates in nonstoichiometric GaAs. ©1997 American Institute of Physics.