Discrete Electronic Bands in Semiconductors and Insulators: Potential High-Light-Yield Scintillators

Bulk semiconductors and insulators typically have continuous valence and conduction bands. Here, we show that valence and conduction bands of a multinary semiconductor or insulator can be split to narrow discrete bands separated by large energy gaps. This unique electronic structure is demonstrated by first-principles calculations in several quaternary elpasolite compounds, i.e., Cs2NaInBr6, Cs2NaBiCl6, and Tl2NaBiCl6. The narrow discrete band structure in these quaternary elpasolites is due to the large electronegativity difference among cations and the large nearest-neighbor distances in cation sublattices. We further use Cs2NaInBr6 as an example to show that the narrow bands can stabilize self-trapped and dopant-bound excitons (in which both the electron and the hole are strongly localized in static positions on adjacent sites) and promote strong exciton emission at room temperature. The discrete band structure should further suppress thermalization of hot carriers and may lead to enhanced impact ionization, which is usually considered inefficient in bulk semiconductors and insulators. These characteristics can enable efficient room-temperature light emission in low-gap scintillators and may overcome the light-yield bottleneck in current scintillator research.