Band structure and effective mass of InN under pressure

Abstract Calculations of the electronic band structure and effective mass of InN are performed within the density functional theory by means of the linear muffin‐tin‐orbital method. The results show a pronounced nonparabolicity of the conduction band. Calculated variations of the highest occupied conduction band energy and electron effective mass with free electron concentration are presented and compared to available experimental data. Pressure effects are studied. Both the fundamental band gap and the electron effective mass increase with hydrostatic pressure, but due to the nonparabolic character of the conduction band of InN the pressure coefficient of the effective mass decreases with electron concentration. Experimental verification of this behavior has been performed on three n‐type samples of InN with different electron concentrations. The measurements and calculations agree in the description of the dependence of effective mass and its pressure coefficient on electron concentration. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)