Complex studies of weak electron localization, electron–electron interaction, and electron overheating in Si crystals containing a&dgr;⟨Sb⟩-layer with various concentrations of Sb atoms are carried out in order to obtain information on the characteristic times of inelastic electron relaxation. The temperature dependence of the electron–phonon relaxation time&tgr;epderived from the electron overheating effect can be described by the dependence&tgr;ep∝T−p,wherep≅3.7±0.3,which corresponds to the caseqTl<1(qTis the wave vector of the thermal phonon andlthe electron mean free path). ©1997 American Institute of Physics.