Assessing the performance of the Tran–Blaha modified Becke–Johnson exchange potential for optical constants of semiconductors in the ultraviolet–visible light region

Abstract

We report on the performance of density functional theory (DFT) with the Tran–Blaha modified Becke–Johnson exchange potential and the random phase approximation dielectric function for optical constants of semiconductors in the ultraviolet–visible (UV-Vis) light region. We calculate optical bandgaps Eg, refractive indices n, and extinction coefficients k of 70 semiconductors listed in the Handbook of Optical Constants of Solids [(Academic Press, 1985), Vol. 1; (Academic Press, 1991), Vol. 2; and (Academic Press, 1998), Vol. 3] and compare the results with experimental values. The results show that the calculated bandgaps and optical constants agree well with the experimental values to within 0.440 eV for Eg, 0.246–0.299 for n, and 0.207–0.598 for k in root mean squared error (RMSE). The small values of the RMSEs indicate that the optical constants of semiconductors in the UV-Vis region can be quantitatively predicted even by a low-cost DFT calculation of this type.