Valence band parameters for Wurtzite GaN and InN

Theoretical studies and design of quantum well lasers employing InGaN require material parameters for both GaN and InN. However, the Luttinger-like effective-mass parameters for InN are currently unavailable. In this work, we extract effective-mass parameters for wurtzite GaN and InN from their electronic band structures calculated using the Empirical Pseudopotential Method (EPM). We obtain the electron and hole (including the heavy- (HH), light- (LH), and crystal-field split-off (CH) holes) effective-masses at the Gamma point in the k(z) and the in-plane k(x)-k(y) plane) directions using a parabolic fit. In addition, the hole effective-mass parameters are derived using the 6x6 effective-mass Hamiltonian and the k.p method. Our results will be useful for material design in wide-gap nitride-based semiconductor lasers containing InGaN.