Determining Effects of Ga and As Atom on the Optical Properties of Silicene: DFT Studies

Abstract

These studies are aimed to investigate influences of Ga dopant and As dopant on the optical properties of silicene. Silicene, a silicon analog of graphene, is expected to be better suited than graphene for the electronics industry, which is currently still dominated by silicon. In order to expand its application, its properties must be controllable. The development of the properties can be done by doping or applying external electric fields and stress. Like carbon, silicon also belongs to group IV of the periodic table. Ga (elements from group III) and As (element from group V) can play the role of dopant donor or acceptor in silicene. Therefore, the Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations were carried out using a general gradient approach in order to investigate the influence of Ga atoms and Al atoms on the optical properties of silicon dioxide. The optical properties studied include refraction, reflection, and absorption. The results show that Ga doping, As doping, and Ga-As codoping reduce the value of the linear optical properties.  The ability to control and exploit its optical properties shed light on designing silicene-based electronic and spintronics materials.