Hybrid density functional study of electronic and optical properties of phase change memory material: \(\mathrm{Ge_{2}Sb_{2}Te_{5}}\)

In this article, we use hybrid density functional (HSE06) to study the crystal and electronic structures and optical properties of well known phase change memory material \(\mathrm{Ge_{2}Sb_{2}Te_{5}}\). We calculate the structural parameters, band gaps and dielectric functions of three stable structures of this material. We also analyze the electron charge distribution using the Bader's theory of charge analysis. We find that hybrid density functional slightly overestimate the value of 'C' parameter. However, overall, our results calculated with the use of hybrid density functional (HSE06) are very close to available experimental values than calculated with the use of PBE functional. Specifically, the electronic band gap values of this material calculated with HSE06 are in good agreement with the available experimental data in the literature. Furthermore, we perform the charge analysis and find that naive ionic model fails to explain the charge distribution between the constituent atoms, showing the complex nature of this compound.