Ab initio calculations of indium arsenide in the wurtzite phase: structural, electronic and optical properties

Most III–V semiconductors, which acquire the zinc-blende phase as bulk materials, adopt the metastable wurtzite phase when grown in the form of nanowires. These are new semiconductors with new optical properties, in particular, a different electronic band gap when compared with that grown in the zinc-blende phase. The electronic gap of wurtzite InAs at the Γ–point of the Brillouin zone (E₀ gap) has been recently measured, E₀=0.46 eV at low temperature. The electronic gap at the A–point of the Brillouin zone (equivalent to the L–point in the zinc-blende structure, E₁) has also been obtained recently based on a resonant Raman scattering experiment. In this work, we calculate the band structure of InAs in the zinc-blende and wurtzite phases, using the full potential linearized augmented plane wave method, including spin-orbit interaction. The electronic band gap has been improved through the modified Becke–Johnson exchange-correlation potential. Both the E₀ and E₁ gaps agree very well with the experiment. From the calculations, a crystal field splitting of 0.122 eV and a spin-orbit splitting of 0.312 eV (the experimental value in zinc-blende InAs is 0.4 eV) has been obtained. Finally, we calculate the dielectric function of InAs in both the zinc-blende and wurtzite phases and a comparative discussion is given. (paper)