Phase stability and electronic behavior of MgS, MgSe and MgTe compounds

Ab initio calculations based on density functional theory using the full-potential linearized augmented plane wave method have been carried out to find the structural stability of different crystallographic phases, the pressure-induced phase transition and the electronic properties of the magnesium chalcogenides MgS, MgSe and MgTe. The zinc blende (B3), wurtzite (B4), rock salt (B1), CsCl (B2), NiAs (B8), beta-BeO, 5-5 and TiP crystal structures are considered and the exchange and correlation potential is treated by the generalized-gradient approximation using the Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof parameterization. Moreover, the modified Becke-Johnson (mBJ) scheme is also applied to optimize the corresponding potential for the band structure calculations. Results show that the wurtzite phase is the stable structure in the ground state adopted by MgSe and MgTe compounds while MgS adopts the rock-salt one. Moreover, the band structure calculations reveal a metallic behavior in the CsCl structure for all the compounds, whereas for the other structures, a semiconducting behavior is observed.