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Title: Electronic properties of III-nitride semiconductors: A first-principles investigation using the Tran-Blaha modified Becke-Johnson potential

Journal Article · · Journal of Applied Physics
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4829674· OSTI ID:22257788
;  [1]
  1. Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Campus Universitário de Ondina, 40210-340 Salvador, Bahia (Brazil)

In this work, we use density functional theory to investigate the influence of semilocal exchange and correlation effects on the electronic properties of III-nitride semiconductors considering zinc-blende and wurtzite crystal structures. We find that the inclusion of such effects through the use of the Tran-Blaha modified Becke-Johnson potential yields an excellent description of the electronic structures of these materials giving energy band gaps which are systematically larger than the ones obtained with standard functionals such as the generalized gradient approximation. The discrepancy between the experimental and theoretical band gaps is then significantly reduced with semilocal exchange and correlation effects. However, the effective masses are overestimated in the zinc-blende nitrides, but no systematic trend is found in the wurtzite compounds. New results for energy band gaps and effective masses of zinc-blende and wurtzite indium nitrides are presented.

OSTI ID:
22257788
Journal Information:
Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 114, Issue 18; Other Information: (c) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-8979
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English