First principles many-body calculations of electronic structure and optical properties of SiC nanoribbons

Abstract

A first principles many-body approach is employed to calculate the band structure and optical response of nanometer-sized ribbons of SiC. Many-body effects are incorporated using the GW approximation, and excitonic effects are included using the Bethe–Salpeter equation. Both unpassivated and hydrogen-passivated armchair SiC nanoribbons are studied. As a consequence of low dimensionality, large quasiparticle corrections are seen to the Kohn–Sham energy gaps. In both cases quasiparticle band gaps are increased by up to 2 eV, as compared to their Kohn–Sham energy values. Inclusion of electron–hole interactions modifies the absorption spectra significantly, giving rise to strongly bound excitonic peaks in these systems. The results suggest that hydrogen passivated armchair SiC nanoribbons have the potential to be used in optoelectronic devices operating in the UV-Vis region of the spectrum. We also compute the formation energies of these nanoribbons as a function of their widths, and conclude that hydrogen-saturated ribbons will be much more stable as compared to bare ones.