Effects of stacking periodicity on the structural, electronic, optical and thermoelectric properties of GaSb/InSb superlattices

In this paper, we show the effect of monolayers (m and n) on the structural, electronic, optical and thermoelectric properties of (GaSb)m/(InSb)n (m-n: 1-1, 2-2, 3-3 and 3–1) superlattices (SLs) within Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations. The formation energy (Efor) validates the stability of the vertically stacked SLs. The results reveal that the (GaSb)m/(InSb)n semiconductor nature has a direct bandgap (ΓV-ΓC). However, the bandgap is constant when m = n, and increases as m > n. In addition, the optical properties calculations, such as the real and imaginary parts of the dielectric function, reflectivity, refractive index, optical conductivity and absorption coefficient, are up to 13.00 eV. Furthermore, the thermoelectric parameters are computed over a broad temperature range of 300 K–800 K to explore the potential of (GaSb)m/(InSb)n for high-performance technological applications. According to the current research, (GaSb)m/(InSb)n SLs are promising candidates for novel infrared (IR) detector devices.