Search for content and authors
 

Ab-Initio Modeling of a-Si and a-Si:H

Ricardo M. Ribeiro 1Vítor J B. Torres Mikhail I. Vasilevskiy André Barros Patrick R. Briddon 

1. University of Minho (UM), Campus de Gualtar, Braga 4710057, Portugal

Abstract

Amorphous silicon (a-Si) has several important technological applications. The simulation of a-Si is complicated because there is no direct experimental data, as there are for crystals. Our approach to simulate a-Si is to build several small samples, which can easily ran in a personal computer and the calculated properties are statically obtained.

We applied the Wooten, Winer and Weaire algorithm to build 15 samples of 64 atoms supercells of continuous random network of silicon. For each supercell volume and atomic relaxation was allowed in order to minimize the total energy, using a density functional-pseudopotential code.

The radial and angular distributions, the electronic and vibrational density of states (VDOS), the Raman and the Infrared spectra were calculated. The radial distribution agrees very well with experimental data. The experimental positions and relative intensities of the Transverse Optical (TO) and Transverse Acoustic of the VDOS are well reproduced, with 14 and 25 cm-1 peak deviations, respectively. The shape of the experimental Raman spectra agrees well with experimental data, being the intense TO peak shifted by 50 cm-1. The TO width at half-weight is very well reproduced.

When hydrogen passivates the dangling bonds and, initially positioned in the middle of floating bonds, their vibrational frequencies agree very well with experimental data.

 

Legal notice
  • Legal notice:
 

Presentation: Poster at E-MRS Fall Meeting 2009, Symposium H, by Ricardo M. Ribeiro
See On-line Journal of E-MRS Fall Meeting 2009

Submitted: 2009-05-05 11:14
Revised:   2009-06-07 00:44