Specific features of the electronic structure of III–VI layered semiconductors: recent results on structural and optical measurements under pressure …

2003

In this paper we review some recent results on the electronic structure of III-VI layered semiconductors and its dependence under pressure, stressing the specific features that differentiate their behaviour from that of tetrahedrally coordinated semiconductors. We will focus on several unexpected results that have led to changes in the image that was currently accepted a few years ago. Intralayer bond angles change under pressure and the layer thickness remains virtually constant or increases. As a consequence, models based in intra- and inter-layer deformation potentials fail in explaining the low pressure nonlinearity of the band gap. Numerical-atomic-orbital/density-functional-theory ele…