Abstract
The electronic and optical properties of cubic antiperovskites Ca3MN (M = Ge, Sn, Pb, P, As, Sb and Bi) were investigated by applying the full potential linearized augmented plane wave plus local orbitals (FP-LAPW + lo) scheme based on density functional theory. Different exchange correlation potentials were adopted for the calculations. The results of band structure and density of states show that, by changing the central anion of Ca3MN, the nature of the materials change from metallic (Ca3GeN, Ca3SnN, Ca3PbN) to semiconducting with small band gaps (Ca3SbN and Ca3BiN) to insulating (Ca3PN and Ca3AsN). The optical properties such as dielectric function, absorption coefficient, optical conductivity, reflectivity and refractive indices have also been calculated. The results reveal that all the studied compounds are optically active in the visible and ultraviolet energy regions, and therefore can be effectively utilized for optoelectronic devices.