Self-consistent quasi-particle $GW$ and hybrid functional calculations for Al/InAs/Al heterojunctions: band offset and spin-orbit coupling effects

Abstract

The electronic structure of surfaces and interfaces plays a key role in the properties of quantum devices. Here, we study the electronic structure of realistic Al/InAs/Al heterojunctions using a combination of density functional theory (DFT) with hybrid functionals and state-of-the-art quasi-particle $GW$ (QS$GW$) calculations. We find a good agreement between QS$GW$ calculations and hybrid functional calculations which themselves compare favourably well with ARPES experiments. Our study confirm the need of well controlled quality of the interfaces to obtain the needed properties of InAs/Al heterojunctions. A detailed analysis of the effects of spin-orbit coupling on the spin-splitting of the electronic states show a linear scaling in $k$-space, related to the two-dimensional nature of some interface states. The good agreement by QS$GW$ and hybrid functional calculations open the door towards trust-able use of an effective approximation to QS$GW$ for studying very large heterojunctions.