Electronic,mechanical, phase transition,and thermo-physical properties of TMC (TM = V,Nb, and Ta): high pressure ab initio study

The structural, electronic, mechanical, phase transition, and thermo-physical properties of refractory carbides, viz. VC, NbC, and TaC have been computed in stable B1 and high pressure B2 phases by means of two different ab initio calculations using pseudo- and full-potential schemes. These materials have mixed covalent-, metallic-, and ionic-type bonding. The calculations of elastic constants show the mechanical stability of these materials in B1 phase only. The brittle nature and anisotropy is observed in these materials in B1 phase. Non-central forces are present in both the phases. Elastic wave velocities and Debye temperature have also been calculated. The present results on structural, phase transition, elastic, and other properties are in reasonably good agreement with the available experimental and theoretical data. The calculations in high pressure phase need experimental verification.     

Pressure induced phase transformations in alkali metal hydrides

Abstract

A three body potential approach(Singh and Singh, Phys. Rev. B39,761(1989)) has been described and applied to investigate the pressure induced phase transformation from B1 (NaCl-Structure) to B2 (CsCl-Structure) phases for the partially ionic alkali-metal hydrides (LiH, NaH and KH). Our calculated values of the phase transition pressures and the associated volume collapses for NaH and KH are in reasonably good agreement with their experimental data. The variations of the relative volumes (V(P)/V(O)) with pressure for both B1 and B2 phases, have shown no phase transition upto 140 GPa in LiH. This feature is in agreement with the experimental observations.     

High pressure structural,electronic and vibrational properties of InN and InP

A first-principles plane wave self-consistent method with the Ultrasoftpseudopotential scheme in the framework of density functional theory is performed to study the high pressure structural, electronic and vibrational properties of InX (X = N, P) for the zinc-blende (ZnS/B3), rock-salt (NaCl/B1) and cesium-chloride (CsCl/B2) phases. We also calculate the phase transition pressures among these different phases. Conclusions based on electronic energy band structure, phonon dispersion and phonon density of states at high pressure phases along phase transition regions are outlined.     

压力下氮化铝相转变及结构性质的第一性原理研究

利用密度泛函理论(DFT)研究了AlN的六角纤锌矿结构(B4),岩盐矿结构(B1),过渡态中间相六方结构(Hexa)和过渡态中间相四方结构(Tetra),计算了AlN在不同压力下B4和B1结构和过渡态中间相六方结构和四方结构的焓值,计算发现B4和B1相的转变压力是17.27 GPa,低压区中间相六方结构稳定,高压区中间相四方结构更稳定,AlN的常见的B4结构是直接带隙结构,带隙宽度是4.095 eV,带隙宽度与外压力之间关系符合二次函数方程,与其它理论研究结果一致.     

Structural,electronic and mechanical properties of alkaline earth metal oxides MO (M=Be,Mg, Ca,Sr, Ba)

The structural, electronic and mechanical properties of alkaline earth metal oxides MO (M=Be, Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba) in the cubic (B1, B2 and B3) phases and in the wurtzite (B4) phase are investigated using density functional theory calculations as implemented in VASP code. The lattice constants, cohesive energy, bulk modulus, band structures and the density of states are computed. The calculated lattice parameters are in good agreement with the experimental and the other available theoretical results. Electronic structure reveals that all the five alkaline earth metal oxides exhibit semiconducting behavior at zero pressure. The estimated band gaps for the stable wurtzite phase of BeO is 7.2 eV and for the stable cubic NaCl phases of MgO, CaO, SrO and BaO are 4.436 eV, 4.166 eV, 4.013 eV, and 2.274 eV respectively. A pressure induced structural phase transition occurs from wurtzite (B4) to NaCl (B1) phase in BeO at 112.1 GPa and from NaCl (B1) to CsCl (B2) phase in MgO at 514.9 GPa, in CaO at 61.3 GPa, in SrO at 42 GPa and in BaO at 14.5 GPa. The elastic constants are computed at zero and elevated pressures for the B4 and B1 phases for BeO and for the B1 and B2 phases in the case of the other oxides in order to investigate their mechanical stability, anisotropy and hardness. The sound velocities and the Debye temperatures are calculated for all the oxides using the computed elastic constants.     

Structural, electronic and optical properties of high pressure stable phases of ZnTe

We have performed full potential linear augmented plane wave calculations to investigate the pressure induced phase transition in ZnTe. Total energies of three phases (zinc-blende, cinnabar and Cmcm) are calculated using density functional theory formalism under generalized gradient approximation and Engel-Vosko generalized gradient approximation for the exchange correlation potential approximation. The pressure stability corresponding to zinc-blende, cinnabar and Cmcm phases of ZnTe are computed. We find that cinnabar phase could be formed as a metastable phase by releasing pressure from the high pressure Cmcm phase. The obtained structural, electronic and optical results are compared with previous calculations and available experimental data. Overall good agreement is found.     

Phase transition,electronic and optical properties of III-Sb compounds under pressure

III-V semiconductors are the backbone of optoelectronic industry. Here, we have performed first principle calculations to investigate the structural, electronic and optical properties of III-Sb (III = B, Al, Ga, Sb) compounds under the effect of pressure. The structural phase transition from zincblende to rocksalt phases is determined by the common tangent of the two E–V curves. The obtained results are in good agreement with the available literature. Compounds make electronic transition from semiconductors to metals under pressure. The calculated band structure in zincblende structure was compared with experimental and theoretical findings. Optical properties including real and imaginary parts of the complex dielectric function, frequency-dependent reflectivity and optical conductivity are explained to characterize the optical nature of these compounds in both phases.     

Electronic structure and structural phase stability of CuAlX2 (X=S, Se, Te) under pressure

The electronic and structural properties of chalcopyrite compounds CuAlX₂ (X=S, Se, Te) have been studied using the first principle self-consistent Tight Binding Linear Muffin-Tin Orbital (TBLMTO) method within the local density approximation. The present study deals with the ground state properties, structural phase transition, equations of state and pressure dependence of band gap of CuAlX₂ (S, Se, Te) compounds.Electronic structure and hence total energies of these compounds have been computed as a function of reduced volume. The calculated lattice parameters are in good agreement with the available experimental results. At high pressures, structural phase transition from bct structure (chalcopyrite) to cubic structure (rock salt) is observed. The pressure induced structural phase transitions for CuAlS₂, CuAlSe₂, and CuAlTe₂ are observed at 18.01, 14.4 and 8.29 GPa, respectively. Band structures at normal as well as for high-pressure phases have been calculated. The energy band gaps for the above compounds have been calculated as a function of pressure, which indicates the metallic character of these compounds at high-pressure fcc phase. There is a large downshift in band gaps due to hybridatization of the noble-metal d levels with p levels of the other atoms.     

Structural and magnetic properties of chromium dioxide at high pressures

Ab initio calculations were performed on CrO₂ to study its behavior and possible similarity to silica under high pressures. At the rutile→CaCl₂-type phase transition, the lattice constants, cell volume and total energy change continuously, indicating the second-order nature of the phase transition, consistent with the experimental observations. The current calculations have demonstrated that the rutile→CaCl₂-type phase transition is driven by the softening of the Raman active B_1g mode, weakly coupling with the elastic shear modulus C_s. Further phase transitions of CrO₂ to denser packed phases of α-PbO₂-type and pyrite have been well predicted by total energy calculations. Our electronic calculations revealed that CrO₂ is still a half-metallic ferromagnet up to pressure of 95 GPa. The present results confirm the analogy of the phase sequence between silica and CrO₂ at high pressures.     

Structural,electronic, and optical properties of ZnO_(1-x)Se_x alloys using first-principles calculations

The structural, electronic, and optical properties of binary ZnO, ZnSe compounds, and their ternary ZnO 1-x Se x alloys are computed using the accurate full potential linearized augmented plane wave plus local orbital (FP-LAPW + lo) method in the rocksalt (B1) and zincblende (B3) crystallographic phases. The electronic band structures, fundamental energy band gaps, and densities of states for ZnO 1-x Se x are evaluated in the range 0 ≤ x ≤ 1 using Wu-Cohen (WC) generalized gradient approximation (GGA) for the exchange-correlation potential. Our calculated results of lattice parameters and bulk modulus reveal a nonlinear variation for pseudo-binary and their ternary alloys in both phases and show a considerable deviation from Vegard's law. It is observed that the predicted lattice parameter and bulk modulus are in good agreement with the available experimental and theoretical data. We establish that the composition dependence of band gap is semi-metallic in B1 phase, while a direct band gap is observed in B3 phase. The calculated density of states is described by taking into account the contribution of Zn 3d, O2p, and Se 4s, and the optical properties are studied in terms of dielectric functions, refractive index, reflectivity, and energy loss function for the B3 phase and are compared with the available experimental data.     

Ab-initio study of structural and electronic properties of AlAs

The structural properties, i.e. equilibrium lattice constant, transition pressure, bulk modulus and its pressure derivatives, together with electronic properties, i.e. energy bands, Compton profile and autocorrelation function, of AlAs are presented in this work. The linear combination of atomic orbitals (LCAO) method of the CRYSTAL code was applied considering the Perdew–Burke–Ernzerhof correlation energy functional and Becke's ansatz for the exchange. The total energy of AlAs as a function of primitive cell volume has also been calculated for the zincblende (B3), nickel arsenide (B8), sodium chloride (B1) and cesium chloride (B2) phases. Structural parameters of the B3, B8, B1 and B2 phases are determined. The calculated structural parameters are found to be in good agreement with the results of previous investigations. The spherically averaged theoretical values of Compton profile are in good agreement with an earlier measurement. The LCAO calculation shows an indirect band gap of 1.85?eV, in reasonable agreement with earlier data. On the basis of the equal-valence-electron-density Compton profile, it is found that AlAs is more ionic compared to AlSb.     

Imma phase of Si: phase transitions and stability

First principles calculations of the total energy of Imma states have found instabilities in states near the β-Sn phase and in states near the simple hexagonal (sh) phase of Si crystal. In agreement with experiment the two instability ranges narrow the stable range between them and also in agreement with experiment the instabilities force first-order transitions to both the β–Sn and sh phases when the pressure is held constant, the experimental condition. The transition pressures to the β-Sn and sh phases for a non-vibrating crystal model are found to be 96 and 110 kbar respectively. These pressure values are considerably lower than the experimental values, but we show that lattice vibrations will increase the equilibrium-state pressures. We find widespread occurrence of instability in the equilibrium states of the three phases and show the presence of three kinds of instability. Near and up to the sh phase structure we find the unusual case of stability at constant volume, but, as observed, instability at constant pressure p. Two special computational procedures are discussed, which locate the unstable ranges of structure. One is based on finding phases from minima of total energy E at constant V and the other finds phases from minima of the Gibbs free energy G at constant p. When the minima cease to exist the Imma phase is unstable.     

Electron momentum density and phase transition in SrO

In this article, we present electron momentum density distribution and phase transition in SrO. The experimental values of momentum density have been measured using 5Ci ²⁴¹Am Compton spectrometer and analyzed using theoretical data obtained from the ab-initio linear combination of atomic orbitals method. The first-principles calculations of the total energy of SrO as a function of cell volume have also been carried out for the cubic rocksalt (B1) and cesium chloride (B2) phases. Several structural parameters, i.e. equilibrium lattice constant, transition pressure, bulk modulus, etc. of B1 and B2 phases have been calculated and compared with the previous investigations. We conclude that the stable phase of SrO is B1 and the phase transition from B1 to B2 occurs at 35.8?GPa.     

Structural stabilities, electronic, elastic and optical properties of SrTe under pressure: A first-principles study

The structural, electronic, elastic and optical properties as well as phase transition under pressure of SrTe have been systematically investigated by first-principles pesudopotential calculations. Five possible phases of SrTe have been considered. Our results show that SrTe undergoes a phase transition from NaCl-type (B1) to CsCl-type (B2) structure at 10.9 GPa with a volume collapse of 9.43%, and no further transition is found. We find that SrTe prefer h-MgO instead of wurtzite (B4) structure for its metastable phase because that the ionic compound prefers a high coordination. The elastic moduli, energy band structures, real and imaginary parts of the dielectric functions have been calculated for all considered phases, and we find that a smaller energy gap yields a larger high-frequency dielectric constant. Our calculated results are discussed and compared with the available experimental and theoretical data.     

Electronic structure and high pressure phase transition in LaSb and CeSb

The electronic structure and high pressure structural phase transition in lanthanum and cerium antimonides have been investigated using the tight binding LMTO method. Calculation of the total energy reveals that the simple tetragonal structure is stable at high pressure for both the compounds. In LaSb, the calculated values of the equilibrium cell volume and the cell volume at which phase transition occurs agree with the experimental results. However, in CeSb, the agreement is not so good. We have also predicted the most favouredc/a value in the simple tetragonal phase for these compounds. Further, we present the calculated results on the electronic structure of these systems at the equilibrium as well the reduced cell volumes.     

高压下ZnO的结构、弹性性质和吸收光谱的第一性原理研究

 运用基于密度泛函理论（DFT）的平面波赝势方法（PWP）,结合局域密度近似（LDA）以及广义梯度近似（GGA）,系统地研究了ZnO的纤锌矿结构（B4结构）,NaCl结构（B1结构）和CsCl结构（B2结构）在不同压强下的几何结构、弹性性质和吸收光谱。详细研究了ZnO发生的两次相变（B4→B1及B1→B2相变）,得到了不同近似下的相变压强,以及两次相变过程中其弹性常数随压强的变化,并分析了这种变化与相变的关系。发现在高压作用下,ZnO的吸收光谱发生蓝移。通过计算结果和实验结果的比较可以看出,LDA近似下的计算结果更加符合实验结果。     

Structural and electronic properties of wurtzite,zincblende and rocksalt Al1 − xInxN ternary alloys at ambient and high pressure

ABSTRACT

Although AlInN is originally a wurtzite structure, zincblende and rocksalt are other potential phases. It will be interesting to have a comparative study of the physical properties of this compound in various phases. A DFT-based study of wurtzite, zincblende and rocksalt phases of AlInN alloys is carried out. Structural (lattice parameter, bulk modulus) and electronic properties (energy band gap, and electron effective mass) of the Al_{1??? x}In_xN alloys are investigated, at ambient pressure, throughout the whole range of indium contents for all considered phases. High pressure effects on the studied parameters are also examined, with the phase transition pressures computed for different values of In concentrations, and compared with available data. Structural density functional calculations are performed with Perdew–Burke–Ernzerhof gradient-corrected functional for solids (PBEsol), while electronic structure is computed with the modified Becke–Johnson (TB-mBJ) potential exchange to ensure a better accuracy of calculated the band gaps. Alloy randomness is taken into account using a special quasi-random structure.     

Structural stability and electronic properties of AgInS<Subscript>2</Subscript> under pressure

We employ state-of-the-art ab initio density functional theory techniques to investigatethe structural, dynamical, mechanical stability and electronic properties of the ternaryAgInS₂ compoundsunder pressure. Using cohesive energy and enthalpy, we found that from the six potentialphases explored, the chalcopyrite and the orthorhombic structures were very competitive aszero pressure phases. A pressure-induced phase transition occurs around 1.78 GPa from the low pressure chalcopyritephase to a rhombohedral RH-AgInS₂ phase. The pressure phase transition around 1.78 GPa isaccompanied by notable changes in the volume and bulk modulus. The calculations of thephonon dispersions and elastic constants at different pressures showed that thechalcopyrite and the orthorhombic structures remained stable at all the selected pressure(0, 1.78 and 2.5 GPa), where detailed calculations were performed, while the rhombohedralstructure is only stable from the transition pressure 1.78 GPa. Pressure effect on thebandgap is minimal due to the small range of pressure considered in this study. Themeta-GGA MBJ functional predicts bandgaps which are in good agreement with availableexperimental values.     

High pressure structural phase transition in uranium monochalcogenides

The pressure induced phase transition in uranium monochalcogenides, UX (X = S, Se, and Te) is studied by two-body potential approach. It is found that US, USe and UTe undergo a structural phase transition from NaCl (B1) type to CsCl (B2) type at 78.5, 21 and 9.5 GPa, respectively, which is in good agreement with the recent experimental data. In addition, second-order elastic constants (SOECs) (C ₁₁, C ₁₂ and C ₁₄) have been calculated which can be used to establish the nature of the forces in these materials. The present study shows that the considered two-body potential model can be used to predict the phase transition pressure in UX compounds provided the strength and hardness parameters in B1 and B2 phases are different.