Materials Theory

Helium atom scattering (HAS) studies of the H-covered Mo(110) and W(110) surfaces reveal a twofold anomaly in the respective dispersion curves. In order to explain this unusual behavior we performed density-functional theory calculations of the atomic and electronic structure, the vibrational properties, and the electronic susceptibility of those surfaces. Our work provides evidence for hydrogen adsorption induced Fermi-{}surface nesting. The respective nesting vectors are in excellent agreement with the HAS data and recent angle resolved photoemission experiments of the H-covered alloy system Mo_0.95Re_0.05(110). Also, we investigated the electron-phonon coupling and discovered that the Rayleigh phonon frequency is lowered for those critical wave vectors compared to the clean surfaces. Moreover, the smaller indentation in the HAS spectra can be clearly identified as a Kohn anomaly. Based on our results for the susceptibility and the recently improved understanding of the He scattering mechanism we argue that the larger anomalous dip is due to electron-hole excitations by the He scattering.

For the orthorhombic intermetallic semiconductor Al 2 Ru, the bandstructure, valence charge density, zone center optical phonon frequencies, and Born effective charge and electronic dielectric tensors are calculated using variational density functional perturbation theory with {\em ab initio} pseudopotentials and a plane wave basis set. Good agreement is obtained with recent measurements on polycrystalline samples which showed anomalously strong far IR absorption by optical phonons, while analysis of the valence charge density shows that the static ionic charges of Al and Ru are negligible. Hybridization is proposed as the single origin both of the semiconducting gap and the anomalous Born effective charges. Analogous behavior is expected in related compounds such as NiSnZr, PbTe, skutterudites, and Al-transition-metal quasicrystals.

A new tight-binding total energy method, which has been shown to accurately predict ground state properties of transition and noble metals, is applied to Manganese, the element with the most complex ground state structure among the d metals. We show that the tight-binding method correctly predicts the ground state structure of Mn, and offers some insight into the magnetic properties of this state.

A recent tight-binding scheme provides a method for extending the results of first principles calculations to regimes involving 10 2 − 10 3 atoms in a unit cell. The method uses an analytic set of two-center, non-orthogonal tight-binding parameters, on-site terms which change with the local environment, and no pair potential. The free parameters in this method are chosen to simultaneously fit band structures and total energies from a set of first-principles calculations for monatomic fcc and bcc crystals. To check the accuracy of this method we evaluate structural energy differences, elastic constants, vacancy formation energies, and surface energies, comparing to first-principles calculations and experiment. In most cases there is good agreement between this theory and experiment. We present a detailed account of the method, a complete set of tight-binding parameters, and results for twenty-nine of the alkaline earth, transition and noble metals.

The stability of interfaces and the mechanisms of thin film growth on semiconductors are issues of central importance in electronic devices. These issues can only be understood through detailed study of the relevant microscopic processes. Experimental studies are able to provide detailed, atomic scale information for model systems. Theoretical analysis of experimental results is essential in explaining certain surprising observations and in providing guidance for optimizing conditions and methods of growth. We review recent theoretical work on the diffusion of adatoms, the structure of adsorbate monolayers, and their implications for growth on the Si and Ge (111) surfaces. The theoretical analysis consists of first-principles calculations of the total-energy and entropy factors for stable, metastable and saddle-point configurations. These calculations are supplemented by Monte Carlo simulations of simple models that afford direct contact with experimental observations.

Local Spin Density Approximation (LSDA) is used to calculate the energy bands of both the ferromagnetic and paramagnetic phases of metallic CrO_2. The Fermi level lies in a peak in the paramagnetic density of states, and the ferromagnetic phase is more stable. As first predicted by Schwarz, the magnetic moment is 2 \mu_B per Cr atom, with the Fermi level for minority spins lying in an insulating gap between oxygen p and chromium d states ("half-metallic" behavior.) The A_1g Raman frequency is predicted to be 587 cm^{-1}. Drude plasma frequencies are of order 2eV, as seen experimentally by Chase. The measured resistivity is used to find the electron mean-free path l, which is only a few angstroms at 600K, but nevertheless, resistivity continues to rise as temperature increases. This puts CrO_2 into the category of "bad metals" in common with the high T_c superconductors, the high T metallic phase of VO_2, and the ferromagnet SrRuO_3. In common with both SrRuO_3 and Sr_2RuO_4, the measured specific heat \gamma is higher than band theory by a renormalization factor close to 4.

The structural stability and electronic properties of the ternary intermetallic compounds NiSnM (M = Ti, Zr, Hf) and the closely related Heusler compounds Ni 2 SnM are discussed using the results of ab initio pseudopotential total energy and band-structure calculations performed with a plane wave basis set using the conjugate gradients algorithm. The results characterize the lowest energy phase of NiSnM compounds, with a SnM rocksalt structure sublattice, as narrow gap semiconductors with indirect gaps near 0.5 eV. Two other atomic arrangements for NiSnM in the MgAgAs structure result in energetically unfavorable compounds that are metallic. The gap formation in the lowest energy structure of NiSnZr and relative stability of the three atomic arrangements are investigated within a tight-binding framework and by considering the decompositions of each ternary compound into a binary substructure plus a third element sublattice. The stabilization of the lowest energy phase of NiSnZr is found to be mainly due to the relative stability of the SnZr rocksalt substructure, while the opening of the gap induced by the addition of the symmetry-breaking Ni sublattice makes a relatively minor contribution. From analysis of structural and chemical trends, CoVSn is predicted to be a new semiconducting intermetallic in the MgAgAs structure with a 0.8 eV indirect gap.

The band structures of 6H and 4H SiC calculated by means of the FP-LMTO method are used to determine the effective mass tensors for their conduction-band minima. The results are shown to be consistent with recent optically detected cyclotron resonance measurements and predict an unusual band filling dependence for 6H-SiC.

In the framework of a recently reported linear-scaling method for density-functional-pseudopotential calculations, we investigate the use of localized basis functions for such work. We propose a basis set in which each local orbital is represented in terms of an array of `blip functions'' on the points of a grid. We analyze the relation between blip-function basis sets and the plane-wave basis used in standard pseudopotential methods, derive criteria for the approximate equivalence of the two, and describe practical tests of these criteria. Techniques are presented for using blip-function basis sets in linear-scaling calculations, and numerical tests of these techniques are reported for Si crystal using both local and non-local pseudopotentials. We find rapid convergence of the total energy to the values given by standard plane-wave calculations as the radius of the linear-scaling localized orbitals is increased.

The Born effective charge tensors of Barium Titanate have been calculated for each of its 4 phases. Large effective charges of Ti and O, also predicted by shell model calculations and made plausible by a simplified model, reflect the partial covalent character of the chemical bond. A band by band decomposition confirms that orbital hybridization is not restricted to Ti and O atoms but also involves Ba which appears more covalent than generally assumed. Our calculations reveal a strong dependence of the effective charges on the atomic positions contrasting with a relative insensitivity on isotropic volume changes.