Electronic bands and excited states of III-V semiconductor polytypes with screened-exchange density functional calculations

The electronic band structures and excited states of III-V semiconductors such as GaP, AlP, AlAs, and AlSb for various polytypes are determined employing the screened-exchange density functional calculations implemented in the full-potential linearized augmented plane-wave methods. We demonstrate that GaP and AlSb in the wurtzite (WZ) structure have direct gap while III-V semiconductors in the zinc blende, 4H, and 6H structures considered in this study exhibit an indirect gap. Furthermore, we find that inclusion of Al atoms less than 17% and 83% in the hexagonal AlxGa1-xP and AlxGa1-xAs alloys, respectively, leads to a direct transition with a gap energy of similar to 2.3 eV. The feasibility of III-V semiconductors with a direct gap in WZ structure offers a possible crystal structure engineering to tune the optical properties of semiconductor materials. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.