Van der Waals Effects on semiconductor clusters

Van der Waals (vdW) interactions play an important role on semiconductors in nanoscale. Here, we utilized first‐principles calculations based on density functional theory to demonstrate the growth mode transition from prolate to multiunit configurations for Ge_n (n = 10–50) clusters. In agreement with the injected ion drift tube techniques that “clusters with n < 70 can be thought of as loosely bound assemblies of small strongly bound fragments (such as Ge₇ and Ge₁₀),” we found these stable fragments are connected by Ge₆, Ge₉, or Ge₁₀ unit (from bulk diamond), via strong covalent bonds. Our calculated cations usually fragment to Ge₇ and Ge₁₀ clusters, in accordance with the experiment results that the spectra Ge₇ and Ge₁₀ correspond to the mass abundance spectra. By controlling a germanium cluster with vdW interactions parameters in the program or not, we found that the vdW effects strengthen the covalent bond from different units more strikingly than that in a single unit. With more bonds between units than the threadlike structures, the multiunit structures have larger vdW energies, explaining why the isolated nanowires are harder to produce. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.