Electronic and optical properties of zinc-blende GeC by first principles study

Abstract

The electronic and optical properties of zinc-blende (zb)[Formula: see text]GeC have been investigated using first principles calculations based on the density functional theory (DFT). The obtained band gap of zb–GeC is 2.30[Formula: see text]eV by means of Heyd–Scuseria–Ernzerhof (HSE) functional. We have discussed the energy-dependent optical functions including dielectric constants, refractive index, absorption, reflectivity, and energy-loss spectrum in detail. The results reveal that zb–GeC has a higher static dielectric constant compared with that of zb–SiC. The optical functions are mainly associated with the interband transitions from the occupied valence bands (VBs) Ge[Formula: see text][Formula: see text] and C[Formula: see text][Formula: see text] states to Ge[Formula: see text][Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] and C[Formula: see text][Formula: see text] states of the unoccupied conduction bands (CBs).