The role of screening in the density functional applied on transition metal defects in semiconductors

Abstract: We study selected transition metal related point defects in silicon and silicon carbide semiconductors by a range separated hybrid density functional (HSE06). We find that HSE06 does not fulfill the generalized Koopmans' Theorem for every defect which is due to the self-interaction error in the functional in such cases. Restoring the so-called generalized Koopmans' Condition with a simple correction in the functional can eliminate this error, and brings the calculated charge transition levels remarkably close to the experimental data as well as to the calculated quasi-particle levels from many-body perturbation theory.