Combined hybrid functional and DFT+$U$ calculations for metal chalcogenides

Abstract

In the density-functional studies of materials with localized electronic states, the local/semilocal exchange-correlation functionals are often either combined with a Hubbard parameter $U$ as in the LDA+$U$ method or mixed with a fraction of exactly computed (Fock) exchange energy yielding a hybrid functional. Although some inaccuracies of the semilocal density approximations are thus fixed to a certain extent, the improvements are not sufficient to make the predictions agree with the experimental data. Here we put forward the perspective that the hybrid functional scheme and the LDA+$U$ method should be treated as complementary, and propose to combine the range-separated (HSE) hybrid functional with the Hubbard $U$. We thus present a variety of HSE+$U$ calculations for a set of II-VI semiconductors, consisting of zinc and cadmium monochalcogenides, along with comparison to the experimental data. Our findings imply that an optimal value $U^\ast$ of the Hubbard parameter could be determined, which ensures that the HSE+$U^\ast$ calculation reproduces the experimental band gap. It is shown that an improved description not only of the electronic structure but also of the crystal structure and energetics is obtained by adding the $U^\ast$ term to the HSE functional, proving the utility of HSE+$U^\ast$ approach in modeling semiconductors with localized electronic states.