STRUCTURAL AND ELECTRONIC PROPERTIES OF GROUP-III NITRIDES

We present first-principles calculations of structural and electronic properties of group-III nitrides in wurtzite and zinc-blende structure. For a most accurate treatment of these wide-band-gap semiconductors within local density approximation we employ our self-interaction- and relaxation-corrected pseudopotentials together with Gaussian-orbital basis sets. The results for BN, AlN, GaN, and InN are in good agreement with a host of experimental data yielding a consistent theoretical description of this class of technologically important semiconductor compounds. {copyright} {ital 1997} {ital The American Physical Society}