- Open Access
Composition-dependent band parameters for wurtzite (Al,Ga)N alloys from density functional theory
Phys. Rev. Applied 26, 034033 – Published 16 September, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/fk4v-ynth
Abstract
Ultraviolet light emitters based on the semiconductor alloy aluminum gallium nitride, (Al,Ga)N, have attracted significant interest in recent years due to their potential for optoelectronic devices. To guide the design of such devices with improved efficiencies, theoretical frameworks based on so-called methods have found widespread application in the literature. Given that models are empirical in nature, parameters such as effective masses or crystal-field splitting energies of (Al,Ga)N alloys have to be provided as input from first-principles calculations or experiment. Although these parameters are available for GaN and AlN, detailed information on their composition dependence is sparse. Here, we address this question and provide (Al,Ga)N band parameters for widely used multiband Hamiltonians. We start from density functional theory (DFT) to sample the electronic structure of (Al,Ga)N alloys over the full composition range. The band parameters are treated as free parameters to reproduce the DFT data. For GaN and AlN, the parameters extracted here agree well with literature values. When turning to the composition dependence of the parameters, our calculations show that most parameters deviate significantly from a linear interpolation of the GaN and AlN values, an approximation widely made in the literature. Moreover, to describe changes in the band parameters with Al content, composition-dependent bowing parameters have to be considered for an accurate description of the DFT data. Finally, our analysis also provides initial insight into consequences of the nonlinear composition dependence of the parameters for the electronic structure of (Al,Ga)N alloys. We find that, in particular, the band ordering is affected by the nonlinear evolution of the crystal-field splitting energy with composition, which is an important aspect for the light polarization characteristics of high Al content (Al,Ga)N alloys.
Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)
Article Text
References (96)
- W. Westerhof and L. Nieuweboer-Krobotova, Treatment of vitiligo with UV-B radiation vs topical psoralen plus UV-A, Arch. Dermatol. 133, 1525 (1997).
- V. Panov and T. Borisova-Papancheva, Application of ultraviolet light (UV) in dental medicine, J. Med. Dent. Pract. 2, 194 (2015).
- D. Dhankhar, R. Li, A. Nagpal, J. Chen, A. Krishnamoorthi, and P. M. Rentzepis, A novel approach for remote detection of bacteria using simple charge-coupled device cameras and telescope, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 91 074106 (2020).
- H. Hirayama, N. Kamata, and K. Tsubaki, AlGaN-based deep-ultraviolet light-emitting diodes, in III-Nitride Based Light Emitting Diodes and Applications (Springer, Singapore, 2017), pp. 267–299, 10.1007/978-981-10-3755-9_10.
- S. Clarke and W. Bettin, Ultraviolet light disinfection in the use of individual water purification devices, US Army Public Health Command: Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, USA 1 (2006).
- K. W. Houser, Ten facts about UV radiation and COVID-19, Leukos 16, 177 (2020).
- J. M. Green, A new generation of ultra-violet/visible gas lasers, Opt. Laser Technol. 10, 289 (1978).
- Y. Muramoto, M. Kimura, and S. Nouda, Development and future of ultraviolet light-emitting diodes: UV-LED will replace the UV lamp, Semicond. Sci. Technol. 29, 084004 (2014).
- M. Kneissl, T.-Y. Seong, J. Han, and H. Amano, The emergence and prospects of deep-ultraviolet light-emitting diode technologies, Nat. Photonics 13, 233 (2019).
- H. Amano, R. Collazo, C. De Santi, S. Einfeldt et al., The 2020 UV emitter roadmap, J. Phys. D 53, 503001 (2020).
- J. Lang, F. Xu, J. Wang, L. Zhang, X. Fang, Z. Zhang, X. Guo, C. Ji, C. Ji, F. Tan et al., Progress in performance of -based ultraviolet light emitting diodes, Adv. Electron. Mater. 11, 2300840 (2025).
- C. Liu and J. Zhang, Influence of quantum well design on light polarization switching in ultraviolet emitters, AIP Adv. 8, 085125 (2018).
- M. Suzuki, T. Uenoyama, and A. Yanase, First-principles calculations of effective-mass parameters of and , Phys. Rev. B 52, 8132 (1995).
- C. Coughlan, S. Schulz, M. A. Caro, and E. P. O’Reilly, Band gap bowing and optical polarization switching in alloys, Phys. Status Solidi B 252, 879 (2015).
- K. B. Nam, J. Li, M. L. Nakarmi, J. Y. Lin, and H. X. Jiang, Unique optical properties of alloys and related ultraviolet emitters, Appl. Phys. Lett. 84, 5264 (2004).
- R. G. Banal, M. Funato, and Y. Kawakami, Optical anisotropy in -oriented quantum wells (), Phys. Rev. B 79, 121308(R) (2009).
- M. Guttmann, F. Mehnke, B. Belde, F. Wolf, C. Reich, L. Sulmoni, T. Wernicke, and M. Kneissl, Optical light polarization and light extraction efficiency of -based LEDs emitting between 264 and 220 nm, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 58, SCCB20 (2019).
- S. Poncé, D. Jena, and F. Giustino, Hole mobility of strained from first principles, Phys. Rev. B 100, 085204 (2019).
- S.-H. Wei and A. Zunger, Valence band splittings and band offsets of , , and , Appl. Phys. Lett. 69, 2719 (1996).
- I. Vurgaftman, J. R. Meyer, and L. R. Ram-Mohan, Band parameters for III–V compound semiconductors and their alloys, J. Appl. Phys. 89, 5815 (2001).
- I. Vurgaftman and J. R. Meyer, Band parameters for nitrogen-containing semiconductors, J. Appl. Phys. 94, 3675 (2003).
- P. Rinke, M. Winkelnkemper, A. Qteish, D. Bimberg, J. Neugebauer, and M. Scheffler, Consistent set of band parameters for the group-III nitrides , , and , Phys. Rev. B 77, 075202 (2008).
- Młaj Chlipała and H. Turski, Harnessing III-nitride built-in field in multi-quantum well LEDs, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 16, 24021 (2024).
- Z. Xing, Y. Wang, F. Wang, J. J. Liou, and Y. Liu, Improvement of the optoelectronic characteristics in deep-ultraviolet laser diodes with tapered p-cladding layer and triangular electron blocking layer, Appl. Phys. B 128, 197 (2022).
- D. Fu, R. Zhang, B. Liu, Z. L. Xie, X. Q. Xiu, H. Lu, Y. D. Zheng, and G. Edwards, Exploring optimal UV emission windows for and alloys grown on different templates, Phys. Status Solidi B 248, 2816 (2011).
- M. Gladysiewicz, D. Hommel, and R. Kudrawiec, Material gain engineering in staggered polar quantum wells dedicated for deep UV lasers, IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron. 25, 1 (2019).
- Z. Xing, Y. Zhou, F. Wang, and Y. Liu, Improving hole injection with the polarization effect for 279 nm -based deep ultraviolet light-emitting diodes, Appl. Phys. B 130, 122 (2024).
- A. A. Yamaguchi, Theoretical investigation of optical polarization properties in Al-rich quantum wells with various substrate orientations, Appl. Phys. Lett. 96 151911 (2010).
- W. Wang, H. Lu, L. Fu, C. He, M. Wang, N. Tang, F. Xu, T. Yu, W. Ge, and B. Shen, Enhancement of optical polarization degree of quantum wells by using staggered structure, Opt. Express 24, 18176 (2016).
- M. Gladysiewicz, C. Skierbiszewski, and R. Kudrawiec, Material gain in polar and quantum wells: How to overcome the ‘dead’ width for light emitters in these QW systems?, IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron. 28, 1 (2022).
- H.-T. Shen, C. Weisbuch, J. S. Speck, and Y.-R. Wu, Three-dimensional modeling of minority-carrier lateral diffusion length including random alloy fluctuations in (In,Ga)N and (Al,Ga)N single quantum wells, Phys. Rev. Appl. 16, 024054 (2021).
- B. Neuschl, J. Helbing, M. Knab, H. Lauer, M. Madel, K. Thonke, T. Meisch, K. Forghani, F. Scholz, and M. Feneberg, Composition dependent valence band order in c-oriented wurtzite layers, J. Appl. Phys. 116 113506 (2014).
- M. Feneberg, M. Winkler, J. Klamser, J. Stellmach, M. Frentrup, S. Ploch, F. Mehnke, T. Wernicke, M. Kneissl, and R. Goldhahn, Anisotropic optical properties of semipolar algan layers grown on m-plane sapphire, Appl. Phys. Lett. 106 182102 (2015).
- O. Marquardt, M. A. Caro, T. Koprucki, P. Mathé, and M. Willatzen, Multiband model and fitting scheme for ab initio based electronic structure parameters for wurtzite , Phys. Rev. B 101, 235147 (2020).
- J. Hafner, Ab-initio simulations of materials using VASP: Density-functional theory and beyond, J. Comput. Chem. 29, 2044 (2008).
- Q. Yan, P. Rinke, A. Janotti, M. Scheffler, and C. G. Van de Walle, Effects of strain on the band structure of group-III nitrides, Phys. Rev. B 90, 125118 (2014).
- P. Strak, P. Kempisty, K. Sakowski, A. Kaminska, D. Jankowski, K. P. Korona, K. Sobczak, J. Borysiuk, M. Beeler, E. Grzanka et al., Ab initio and experimental studies of polarization and polarization related fields in nitrides and nitride structures, AIP Adv. 7 015027 (2017).
- J. C. Goodrich, C.-K. Tan, D. Borovac, and N. Tansu, Prospects for hole doping in dilute-anion III-nitrides, Appl. Phys. Lett. 118 072106 (2021).
- A. Ahmad, P. Strak, P. Kempisty, K. Sakowski, J. Piechota, Y. Kangawa, I. Grzegory, M. Leszczynski, Z. R. Zytkiewicz, G. Muziol et al., Polarization doping–ab initio verification of the concept: Charge conservation and nonlocality, J. Appl. Phys. 132 064301 (2022).
- Z. Liu, S.-Y. Xu, S.-H. Wei, and X. Zhang, Chemical trend of radiative recombination in III-nitrides, Phys. Rev. Mater. 8, 044602 (2024).
- L. Balestra, E. Gnani, and S. Reggiani, Electron effective masses of and from first-principles calculations of unfolded band structure, J. Appl. Phys. 132 215108 (2022).
- Q. Yan, E. Kioupakis, D. Jena, and C. G. Van de Walle, First-principles study of high-field-related electronic behavior of group-III nitrides, Phys. Rev. B 90, 121201(R) (2014).
- J. Heyd, G. E. Scuseria, and M. Ernzerhof, Hybrid functionals based on a screened coulomb potential, J. Chem. Phys. 118, 8207 (2003).
- A. V. Krukau, O. A. Vydrov, A. F. Izmaylov, and G. E. Scuseria, Influence of the exchange screening parameter on the performance of screened hybrid functionals, J. Chem. Phys. 125 224106 (2006).
- P. G. Moses, M. Miao, Q. Yan, and C. G. Van de Walle, Hybrid functional investigations of band gaps and band alignments for , , , and , J. Chem. Phys. 134 084703 (2011).
- G. Coli, K. K. Bajaj, J. Li, J. Y. Lin, and H. X. Jiang, Excitonic luminescence linewidths in alloys with high aluminum concentrations, Appl. Phys. Lett. 80, 2907 (2002).
- A. N. Westmeyer, S. Mahajan, K. K. Bajaj, J. Y. Lin, H. X. Jiang, D. D. Koleske, and R. T. Senger, Determination of energy-band offsets between and using excitonic luminescence transition in alloys, J. Appl. Phys. 99, 013705 (2006).
- L. Rigutti, B. Bonef, J. Speck, F. Tang, and R. A. Oliver, Atom probe tomography of nitride semiconductors, Scr. Mater. 148, 75 (2018).
- B. Witzigmann, F. Römer, M. Martens, C. Kuhn, T. Wernicke, and M. Kneissl, Calculation of optical gain in quantum wells for ultraviolet emission, AIP Adv. 10, 095307 (2020).
- G. Hofmann, A. Muhin, N. Susilo, F. Römer, T. Wernicke, M. Kneissl, and B. Witzigmann, Simulation of carrier injection efficiency in -based UV-light-emitting diodes, IEEE Photonics J. 16, 1 (2024).
- M. Guttmann, J. Höpfner, C. Reich, L. Sulmoni, C. Kuhn, P. Röder, T. Wernicke, and M. Kneissl, Effect of quantum barrier composition on electro-optical properties of -based UVC light emitting diodes, Semicond. Sci. Technol. 34, 085007 (2019).
- R. Finn and S. Schulz, Impact of random alloy fluctuations on the electronic and optical properties of (Al,Ga)N quantum wells: Insights from tight-binding calculations, J. Chem. Phys. 157, 244705 (2022).
- R. Finn, M. O’Donovan, T. Koprucki, and S. Schulz, Theoretical study of the impact of carrier density screening on urbach tail energies and optical polarization in (Al,Ga)N quantum well systems, arXiv:2501.16808.
- S. L. Chuang and C. S. Chang, method for strained wurtzite semiconductors, Phys. Rev. B 54, 2491 (1996).
- P. E. Faria Junior, G. Xu, Y.-F. Chen, G. M. Sipahi, and I. Žutić, Wurtzite spin lasers, Phys. Rev. B 95, 115301 (2017).
- H. Niederreiter, Random Number Generation and Quasi-Monte Carlo Methods (Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, Philadelphia, PA, 1992).
- I. M. Sobol, The distribution of points in a cube and the accurate evaluation of integrals, USSR Comput. Math. Math. Phys. 7, 86 (1967).
- H. Niederreiter, Low-discrepancy and low-dispersion sequences, J. Number Theory 30, 51 (1988).
- O. Marquardt, Simulating the electronic properties of semiconductor nanostructures using multiband models, Comput. Mater. Sci. 194, 110318 (2021).
- O. Marquardt, S. Boeck, C. Freysoldt, T. Hickel, and Jörg Neugebauer, Plane-wave implementation of the real-space formalism and continuum elasticity theory, Comput. Phys. Commun. 181, 765 (2010).
- O. Marquardt, S. Boeck, C. Freysoldt, T. Hickel, S. Schulz, Jörg Neugebauer, and E. P. O’Reilly, A generalized plane-wave formulation of formalism and continuum-elasticity approach to elastic and electronic properties of semiconductor nanostructures, Comput. Mater. Sci. 95, 280 (2014).
- C. M. O. Bastos, F. P. Sabino, P. E. Faria Junior, J. L. F. Campos, and G. M. Sipahi, Stability and accuracy control of parameters, Semicond. Sci. Technol. 31, 105002 (2016).
- C. M. O. Bastos, F. P. Sabino, G. M. Sipahi, and J. L. F. Da Silva, A comprehensive study of -factors, elastic, structural and electronic properties of III-V semiconductors using hybrid-density functional theory, J. Appl. Phys. 123, 065702 (2018).
- M. Winkelnkemper, A. Schliwa, and D. Bimberg, Interrelation of structural and electronic properties in quantum dots using an eight-band model, Phys. Rev. B 74, 155322 (2006).
- N. R. Das and M. Bandyopadhyay, Alloy composition dependent built-in polarization fields and quantized carrier states in III-nitride multi-quantum well structures, J. Appl. Phys. 135, 203105 (2024).
- C.-L. Nies, T. P. Sheerin, and S. Schulz, Electronic and optical properties of boron-containing gan alloys: The role of boron atom clustering, APL Mater. 11, 091119 (2023).
- M. P. C. M. Krijn, Heterojunction band offsets and effective masses in III-V quaternary alloys, Semicond. Sci. Technol. 6, 27 (1991).
- S. Schöche, P. Kühne, T. Hofmann, M. Schubert, D. Nilsson, A. Kakanakova-Georgieva, E. Janzén, and V. Darakchieva, Electron effective mass in alloys determined by mid-infrared optical hall effect, Appl. Phys. Lett. 103, 212107 (2013).
- C.-K. Li, M. Piccardo, L.-S. Lu, S. Mayboroda, L. Martinelli, J. Peretti, J. S. Speck, C. Weisbuch, M. Filoche, and Y.-R. Wu, Localization landscape theory of disorder in semiconductors. III. Application to carrier transport and recombination in light emitting diodes, Phys. Rev. B 95, 144206 (2017).
- Y. Koide, H. Itoh, M. R. H. Khan, K. Hiramatu, N. Sawaki, and I. Akasaki, Energy band-gap bowing parameter in an alloy, J. Appl. Phys. 61, 4540 (1987).
- Y.-K. Kuo and W.-W. Lin, Band-gap bowing parameter of the derived from theoretical simulation, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 41, 73 (2002).
- C. G. Van de Walle, M. D. McCluskey, C. P. Master, L. T. Romano, and N. M. Johnson, Large and composition-dependent band gap bowing in alloys, Mater. Sci. Eng. B 59, 274 (1999).
- M. A. Caro, S. Schulz, and E. P. O’Reilly, Theory of local electric polarization and its relation to internal strain: Impact on polarization potential and electronic properties of group-III nitrides, Phys. Rev. B 88, 214103 (2013).
- E. Sakalauskas, H. Behmenburg, C. Hums, P. Schley, G. Rossbach, C. Giesen, M. Heuken, H. Kalisch, R. Jansen, J. Bläsing et al., Dielectric function and optical properties of Al-rich alloys pseudomorphically grown on , J. Phys. D 43, 365102 (2010).
- S. Schulz, M. A. Caro, L.-T. Tan, P. J. Parbrook, R. W. Martin, and E. P. O’Reilly, Composition-dependent band gap and band-edge bowing in : A combined theoretical and experimental study, Appl. Phys. Express 6, 121001 (2013).
- S. N. Alam, V. Z. Zubialevich, B. Ghafary, and P. J. Parbrook, Bandgap and refractive index estimates of and related nitrides across their full composition ranges, Sci. Rep. 10, 16205 (2020).
- Q. Yan, P. Rinke, M. Scheffler, and C. G. Van de Walle, Strain effects in group-III nitrides: Deformation potentials for , , and , Appl. Phys. Lett. 95, 121111 (2009).
- T. P. Sheerin and S. Schulz, Strain effects in wurtzite boron nitride: Elastic constants, internal strain, and deformation potentials from hybrid functional density functional theory, Phys. Status Solidi 16, 2200021 (2022).
- Y. Li, M. Ge, M. Wang, Y. Zhu, and X. Guo, Effect of surface plasmon coupling with radiating dipole on the polarization characteristics of -based light-emitting diodes, Chin. Phys. B 31, 077801 (2022).
- S. Lu, X. Jiang, Y. Wang, K. Huang, N. Gao, D. Cai, Y. Zhou, C. C. Yang, J. Kang, and R. Zhang, Enhancing deep-UV emission at 234 nm by introducing a truncated pyramid nanostructure with fine-tuned multiple facets, Nanoscale 14, 653 (2022).
- M. Suzuki and T. Uenoyama, Strain effect on electronic and optical properties of quantum-well lasers, J. Appl. Phys. 80, 6868 (1996).
- H.-T. Shen, Y.-C. Chang, and Y.-R. Wu, Analysis of light-emission polarization ratio in deep-ultraviolet light-emitting diodes by considering random alloy fluctuations with the 3d method, Phys. Status Solidi 16, 2100498 (2022).
- P. Sohi, D. Martin, and N. Grandjean, Critical thickness of on : Impact of growth temperature and dislocation density, Semicond. Sci. Technol. 32, 075010 (2017).
- P. Tyagi, C. Ramesh, S. S. Kushvaha, and M. Senthil Kumar, nanowall network structure grown on sapphire (0001) substrate by laser molecular beam epitaxy, Mater. Sci. Semicond. Process 89, 143 (2019).
- C.-C. Chen, T.-C. Huang, Y.-W. Lin, Y.-R. Lin, P.-H. Wu, P.-W. Liou, H.-Y. Hsieh, Y.-Y. Huang, S. Yang, Y.-R. Wu et al., Hole mobility behavior in Al-gradient polarization-induced p-type grown on GaN template, Appl. Phys. Lett. 120, 022103(2022).
- Z.-H. Zhang, S.-W. Huang Chen, Y. Zhang, L. Li, S.-W. Wang, K. Tian, C. Chu, M. Fang, H.-C. Kuo, and W. Bi, Hole transport manipulation to improve the hole injection for deep ultraviolet light-emitting diodes, ACS Photonics 4, 1846 (2017).
- F. Asif, H.-C. Chen, A. Coleman, M. Lachab, I. Ahmad, B. Zhang, Q. Fareed, V. Adivarahan, and A. Khan, Substrate lifted-off lateral conduction thin-film light-emitting diodes operating at 285 nm, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 52, 08JG14 (2013).
- C. Chu, K. Tian, J. Che, H. Shao, J. Kou, Y. Zhang, Z.-H. Zhang, and H.-C. Kuo, On the impact of electron leakage on the efficiency droop for based deep ultraviolet light emitting diodes, IEEE Photonics J. 12, 1 (2020).
- M. A. Khan, N. Maeda, Y. Itokazu, M. Jo, K. Iimura, and H. Hirayama, Milliwatt-power deep-UV light-emitting diodes at 254 nm emission as a clean alternative to mercury deep-UV lamps, Phys. Status Solidi (a) 220, 2200621 (2023).
- Data and plotting scripts for the article “Composition dependent band parameters for wurtzite (Al,Ga)N alloys from density functional theory”, 10.5281/zenodo.21782251.
- D. Gershoni, C. H. Henry, and G. A. Baraff, Calculating the optical properties of multidimensional heterostructures: Application to the modeling of quaternary quantum well lasers, IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 29, 2433 (1993).
- S. Birner, T. Zibold, T. Andlauer, T. Kubis, M. Sabathil, A. Trellakis, and P. Vogl, Nextnano: General purpose 3-D simulations, IEEE Trans. Electron. Devices 54, 2137 (2007).
- , Crosslight device simulation software—general manual (2024).
- V. A. Fonoberov and A. A. Balandin, Excitonic properties of strained wurtzite and zinc-blende quantum dots, J. Appl. Phys. 94, 7178 (2003).
- T.-Y. Tsai, K. S. Qwah, J.-P. Banon, M. Filoche, C. Weisbuch, Y.-R. Wu, and J. S. Speck, Carrier localization in III-nitride versus conventional III-V semiconductors: A study on the effects of alloy disorder using landscape theory and the schrödinger equation, Phys. Rev. Appl. 20, 044069 (2023).
- M. O’Donovan, R. Finn, P. Farrell, T. Streckenbach, J. Moatti, S. Schulz, and T. Koprucki, Developing a hybrid single band carrier transport model for (Al,Ga)N heterostructures, J. Comput. Electron. 24 114 (2025).