Electronic structures of zigzag AlN, GaN nanoribbons and AlxGa1-xN nanoribbon heterojunctions: First-principles study

The electronic and structural properties of zigzag aluminum nitride (AlN), gallium nitride (GaN) nanoribbons and AlxGa1-xN nanoribbon heterojunctions are investigated using the first-principles calculations. Both AlN and GaN ribbons are found to be semiconductor with an indirect band gap, which decreases monotonically with the increased ribbon width, and approaching to the gaps of their infinite two dimensional graphitic-like monolayer structures, respectively. Furthermore, the band gap of AlxGa1-xN nanoribbon heterojunctions is closely related to Al (and/or Ga) concentrations. The AlxGa1-xN nanoribbon of width n=8 shows a continuously band gap varying from about 2.2 eV-3.1 eV as x increases from 0 to 1. The large ranged tunable band gaps in such a quasi one dimension structure may open up new opportunities for these AlN/GaN based materials in future optoelectronic devices. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.