Structures and energetics of neutral and ionic silicon-germanium clusters: density functional theory and coupled cluster studies

We have calculated the structural and energetic properties of neutral and ionic (singly charged anionic and cationic) semiconductor binary silicon-germanium clusters Si(m)Ge(n) for s = m + n ≤ 12 using the density functional theory (DFT-B3LYP) and coupled cluster [CCSD(T)] methods with Pople's 6-311++G(3df, 3pd) basis set. Neutral and anionic clusters share similar ground state structures for s = 3-7, independent of the stoichiometry and atom locations, but start to deviate at s = 8. The relative energetic stability of the calculated ground state structures among possible isomers has been analyzed through a bond strength propensity model where the pair interactions of Si-Si, Si-Ge, and Ge-Ge are competing. Electron affinities, ionization potentials, energy gaps between the highest and lowest occupied molecular orbitals (HOMO-LUMO gaps), and cluster mixing energies were calculated and analyzed. Overall, for a fixed s, the vertical ionization potential increases as the number of silicon atoms m increases, while the vertical electron affinity shows a dip at m = 2. As s increases, the ionization potentials increase from s = 2 to s = 3 and then decrease slowly to s = 8. The mixing energies for neutral and ionic clusters are all negative, indicating that the binary clusters are more stable than pure elemental clusters. Except for s = 4 and 8, cationic clusters are more stable than anionic ones and, thus, are more likely to be observed in experiments.