We describe a simple annealing procedure to obtain the Hugoniot locus (states accessible by a shock wave) for a given material in a computationally efficient manner. We apply this method to determine the Hugoniot locus in bulk silicon from ab initio molecular dynamics with forces from density-functional theory, up to 70 GPa. The fact that shock waves can split into multiple waves due to phase transitions or yielding is taken into account here by specifying the strength of any preceding waves explicitly based on their yield strain. Points corresponding to uniaxial elastic compression along three crystal axes and a number of post-shock phases are given, including a plastically-yielded state, approximated by an isotropic stress configuration following an elastic wave of predetermined strength. The results compare well to existing experimental data for shocked silicon.
New Physics of the $30^\circ$ Partial Dislocation in Silicon Revealed through {\em Ab Initio} Calculation
基于{ \em ab initio}计算，我们提出了硅中30 $^\circ$部分位错的基本激发的新结构.这种孤子具有一种罕见的结构，在位错核附近有一个五配位原子。这种缺陷的独特的电子结构是一致的，迄今为止神秘的热稳定R中心的塑性变形硅的电子自旋共振签名。我们首次用{ \em ab initio}方法确定了孤子的自由能，这也与实验结果一致.这一发现表明，实验测定孤子密度的可能性，这是理解材料塑性流动的一个关键缺陷。
We have used density functional theory to study the energetics and electronic structure of aluminium dopants in crystalline silicon. We present data regarding the atomic and electronic structure and properties of pairs of substitutional aluminium dopants. We find that pairs of dopants, when occupying nearest neighbouring subsitutional sites in a high spin state, can bond to form aluminium pairs. This suggests that such a configuration of dopants will be electrically active when made to occupy a high spin state, whereas in the low spin state the neighbouring dopant pairs are found to be self co…
Hydrogen Diffusion in Silicon - An ab initio Study of Hydrogen Kinetic Properties in Silicon
本文采用密度泛函理论计算了硅中氢缺陷的迁移和分解势垒等动力学性质。我们研究了以下缺陷：H原子（H）和离子（H+，H-），氢分子（H2）和氢络合物（H2*）。结果表明，主要的迁移物种是H离子，其电荷无关的迁移势垒为0.46 eV，与实验值[1]非常吻合。在较高的温度下，H2和H2* 分别以1.2和1.5 eV的势垒分解，而H2的迁移势垒为2.2 eV。因此，我们表明，与先前实验暗示的相反[2，3]，在硅中，氢分子不参与通过扩散的氢传输。1. A. Van Wieringen和N. Warmoltz，Physica 22，849（1956）. 2. S.拉奥，S。K. Dianjin，G. Lupke，N. H. Tolk和L. C. Feldman，Physical Review B 75，6（2007）. 3. N. Escherichiata，A. Kasuya和M. Suezawa，Physica B 308，1125（2001）.
Silicon telluride (Si2Te3) is a silicon-based 2D chalcogenide with potential applications in optoelectronics. It has a unique crystal structure where Si atoms form Si-Si dimers to occupy the "metal" sites. In this paper, we report an ab initio computational study of its optical dielectric properties using the GW approximation and the Bethe-Salpeter equation (BSE). Strong optical anisotropy is discovered. The imaginary part of the dielectric constant in the direction parallel to the Si-Si dimers is found to be much lower than that perpendicular to the dimers. We show this effect originates from…
Ab initio simulations are capable of providing detailed information of material behavior at the nanoscale. Simulating experimentally relevant situations is, however, often computationally intense. Using hybrid approaches between ab initio methods such as density functional theory (DFT) and machine learning, new models can be constructed which retain quantum accuracy while being computationally faster by several orders of magnitude. Two examples are discussed in this paper. The first is the computational search for low energy substitutional defect complexes in silicon. The second is the constru…
Employing density functional theory calculations we explore initial stage of competitive alloying of co-deposited silver and indium atoms into a silicon surface. Particularly, we identify respective adsorption positions and activation barriers governing their diffusion on the dimer-reconstructed silicon surface. Further, we develop a growth model that properly describes diffusion mechanisms and silicon morphology with the account of silicon dimerization and the presence of C-type defects. Based on the surface kinetic Monte Carlo simulations we examine dynamics of bimetallic adsorption and elab…
We have combined the Boltzmann transport equation with an {\it ab initio} approach to compute the thermoelectric coefficients of semiconductors. Electron-phonon, ionized impurity, and electron-plasmon scattering rates have been taken into account. The electronic band structure and average intervalley deformation potentials for the electron-phonon coupling are obtained from the density functional theory. The linearized Boltzmann equation has then been solved numerically beyond the relaxation time approximation. Our approach has been applied to crystalline silicon. We present results for the mob…
Grain boundaries (GBs) are defects originating in multi-crystalline silicon during crystal growth for device Si solar cell fabrication. The presence of GBs changes the coordination of Si, making it advantageous for charge carriers to recombine, which brings a significant reduction of carrier lifetimes. Therefore, GBs can be highly detrimental for device performances. Furthermore, GBs easily form vacancies with deep defect electronic states and are also preferential segregation sites for various impurity species, such as C, N, and O. We studied from first principles the correlation between stru…
We develop an electronic-temperature dependent interatomic potential $Φ(T_\text{e})$ for unexcited and laser-excited silicon. The potential is designed to reproduce ab initio molecular dynamics simulations by requiring force- and energy matching for each time step. $Φ(T_\text{e})$ has a simple and flexible analytical form, can describe all relevant interactions and is applicable for any kind of boundary conditions (bulk, thin films, clusters). Its overall shape is automatically adjusted by a self-learning procedure, which finally finds the global minimum in the parameter space. We show that $Φ…
We put together a first-principles equation of state (FPEOS) database for matter at extreme conditions by combining results from path integral Monte Carlo and density functional molecular dynamics simulations of the elements H, He, B, C, N, O, Ne, Na, Mg, Al and Si as well as the compounds LiF, B4C, BN, CH4, CH2, C2H3, CH, C2H, MgO, and MgSiO3. For all these materials, we provide the pressure and internal energy over a density-temperature range from ~0.5 to 50 g/cc and from ~10^4 to 10^9 K, which are based on ~5000 different first-principles simulations. We compute isobars, adiabats and shock …
Multi-crystalline silicon is widely used for producing low-cost and high-efficiency solar cells. During crystal growth and device fabrication, silicon solar cells contain grain boundaries (GBs) which are preferential segregation sites for atomic impurities such as oxygen atoms. GBs can induce charge carriers recombination significantly reducing carrier lifetimes and therefore they can be detrimental for Si device performance. We studied the correlation between structural, energetic and electronic properties of Σ3{111} Si GB in the presence of vacancies, strain and multiple O segregation. The s…
Full ab initio band structure analysis of interband and intraband contributions for third harmonic generation coefficient of bulk silicon: implementation and application of the sum-over-states
The development of modern ab initio methods has rapidly increased our understanding of physics, chemistry and materials science. Unfortunately, intensive ab initio calculations are intractable for large and complex systems. On the other hand, empirical force fields are less accurate with poor transferability even though they are efficient to handle large and complex systems. The recent development of machine-learning based neural-network (NN) for local atomic environment representation of density functional theory (DFT) has offered a promising solution to this long-standing challenge. Si is on…
We use first principles molecular dynamics simulations coupled to the thermodynamic integration method to study the hcp-bcc transition and melting of beryllium up to a pressure of 1600~GPa. We derive the melting line by equating solid and liquid Gibbs free energies, and represent it by a Simon Glatzel fit $T_m= 1564~\text{K} (1 + P/(15.6032 ~\text{GPa}))^{0.383}$, which is in good agreement with previous two-phase simulations below 6000~K. We also derive the hcp-bcc solid-solid phase boundary and show the quasiharmonic approximation underestimates the stability of the hcp structure, predicting…
Studying the crystallization process of silicon is a challenging task since empirical potentials are not able to reproduce well the properties of both semiconducting solid and metallic liquid. On the other hand, nucleation is a rare event that occurs in much longer timescales than those achievable by ab-initio molecular dynamics. To address this problem, we train a deep neural network potential based on a set of data generated by Metadynamics simulations using a classical potential. We show how this is an effective way to collect all the relevant data for the process of interest. In order to d…
This paper presents an $ab$ $initio$ study of hydrogen dynamics inside nanometer-size voids in $a$-Si within the framework of the density-functional theory for a varying hydrogen load of 10 to 30 H atoms/void at the low and high temperature of 400 K and 700 K, respectively. Using the local density approximation and its generalized-gradient counterpart, the dynamics of hydrogen atoms inside the voids are examined with an emphasis on the diffusion of H atoms/molecules, and the resulting nanostructural changes of the void surfaces. The results from simulations suggest that the microstructure of t…
Accurate prediction of structural and mechanical properties on amorphous materials enabled through machine-learning potentials: a case study of silicon nitride
