First Principle Calculations of Electronic Properties of Bulk and 2D Hexagonal Boron Nitride (hex-BN)

We present results from ab-initio, self-consistent density functional theory (DFT) calculations of electronic properties of hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), for the bulk and a 2D sample. The bulk h-BN belongs to the <!--[if gte msEquation 12]> style='font-family:"Cambria Math",serif;mso-ascii-font-family:"Cambria Math";
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normal'>D _{style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>6h} ^{style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>4} space group and is in the hexagonal structure with the space group P6₃/mmc and Pearson symbol hP6 (#194); the 2D sample is also in the hexagonal structure with the space group P-6m2. We utilized a local density approximation (LDA) potential and the linear combination of atomic orbital (LCAO) formalism. Our calculations performed a generalized minimization of the energy to reach the ground state, as required by the second DFT theorem. This process ensures the full, physical content of our findings that include electronic energy bands, total and partial densities of states, and electron and hole effective masses. Our calculated band gap for room temperature lattice constants of a = 2.504 Å and c = 6.661 Å is indirect band gap of 4.37 eV, for the bulk. Our preliminary results for the 2D sample is a direct band gap of 4.7 eV.