Electronic structures of impurities and point defects in semiconductors

TL;DR

This paper reviews impurity theories in semiconductors, proposing a unified bound exciton model for various impurities and defects, and discusses computational results within this framework.

Contribution

It introduces a unified bound exciton model for shallow and deep impurities and defects, integrating computational results from density-functional theory.

Findings

Unified understanding of shallow and deep impurities

Interpretation of computational results within the bound exciton framework

Historical overview of impurity theories in semiconductors

Abstract

A brief history of the impurity theories in semiconductors is provided. A bound exciton model is proposed for both donor- and acceptor- like impurities and point defects, which offers a unified understanding for "shallow" and "deep" impurities and point defects. The underlying physics of computational results using different density-functional theory based approaches are discussed and interpreted in the framework of the bound exciton model.