Search

Transition metal impurities such as nickel, copper, and iron, in solid-state materials like silicon have a significant impact on the electrical performance of integrated circuits and solar cells. To study the impact of copper impurities inside bulk silicon on the electrical properties of the material, one needs to understand the configurational space of copper atoms incorporated inside the silicon lattice. In this work, we performed ReaxFF reactive force field based molecular dynamics simulations, studying different configurations of individual and crystalline copper atoms inside bulk silicon by looking at the diffusional behavior of copper in silicon. The ReaxFF Cu/Si parameter set was developed by training against DFT data, including the energy barrier for an individual Cu-atom inside a silicon lattice. We found that the diffusion of copper atoms has a direct relationship with the temperature. Moreover, it is also shown that individual copper atoms start to clusterize inside bulk silicon at elevated temperatures. Our simulation results provide a comprehensive picture of the effects of temperature and copper concentration on the crystallization of individual copper inside silicon lattice. Finally, the stress-strain relationship of Cu/Si compounds under uniaxial tensile loading have been obtained. Our results indicate a decrease in the elastic modulus with increasing level of Cu-impurity concentration. We observe spontaneous microcracking of the Si during the stress-strain tests as a consequence of the formation of a small Cu clusters adjacent to the Si surface., Comment: 29 pages, 13 figures

The transformation pathways of carbon at high pressures are of broad interest for synthesis of novel materials and for revealing the Earth's geological history. We have applied large plastic shear on graphite in rotational anvils to form hexagonal and nanocrystalline cubic diamond at extremely low pressures of 0.4 and 0.7 GPa, which are 50 and 100 times lower than the transformation pressures under hydrostatic compression and well below the phase equilibrium. Large shearing accompanied with pressure elevation to 3 GPa also leads to formation of a new orthorhombic diamond phase. Our results demonstrate new mechanisms and new means for plastic shear-controlled material synthesis at drastically reduced pressures, enabling new technologies for material synthesis. The results indicate that the micro-diamonds found in the low pressure-temperature crust could have formed during a large shear producing event, such as tectonic rifting and continued plate collision, without the need to postulate subduction to the mantle., Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures, 3 tables

Na is known to deliver very low energy capacity for sodium intercalation compared to Lithium. In this study, we use quantum mechanics based metadynamics simulations to obtain the free energy landscape for sodium ion intercalation from Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) solvent into graphite. We find that the lowest free energy minima from the metadynamics are associated with sodium solvated by 3 or 4 DMSO. The free energy minima of these states are activated by a free energy of solvation computed to be 0.17 eV, which in turn are the most thermodynamically stable. We observe weak interactions of sodium with graphite sheets during the unbiased and biased molecular dynamics simulations. Our simulations results indicate that solvent plays an important role in stabilizing the sodium intercalation into graphite through shielding of the sodium while modulating the interaction of the solvent with the graphite sheets. In order to facilitate this intercalation, we propose solvents with negatively charged groups and aromatic cores (e.g., cyclic ethers) that could allow a greater rate of anion exchange to increase Na+ mobility., Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures

Plasmonic hot carrier devices extract excited carriers from metal nanostructures before equilibration, and have the potential to surpass semiconductor light absorbers. However their efficiencies have so far remained well below theoretical limits, which necessitates quantitative prediction of carrier transport and energy loss in plasmonic structures to identify and overcome bottlenecks in carrier harvesting. Here, we present a theoretical and computational framework, Non-Equilibrium Scattering in Space and Energy (NESSE), to predict the spatial evolution of carrier energy distributions that combines the best features of phase-space (Boltzmann) and particle-based (Monte Carlo) methods. Within the NESSE framework, we bridge first-principles electronic structure predictions of plasmon decay and carrier collision integrals at the atomic scale, with electromagnetic field simulations at the nano- to mesoscale. Finally, we apply NESSE to predict spatially-resolved energy distributions of photo-excited carriers that impact the surface of experimentally realizable plasmonic nanostructures at length scales ranging from tens to several hundreds of nanometers, enabling first-principles design of hot carrier devices., Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures

The reliable production of two-dimensional crystals is essential for the development of new technologies based on 2D materials. However, current synthesis methods suffer from a variety of drawbacks, including limitations in crystal size and stability. Here, we report the fabrication of large-area, high-quality 2D tellurium (tellurene) using a substrate-free solution process. Our approach can create crystals with a process-tunable thickness, from monolayer to tens of nanometres, and with lateral sizes of up to 100 um. The chiral-chain van der Waals structure of tellurene gives rise to strong in-plane anisotropic properties and large thickness dependent shifts in Raman vibrational modes, which is not observed in other 2D layered materials. We also fabricate tellurene field-effect transistors, which exhibit air-stable performance at room temperature for over two months, on off ratios on the order of 106 and field-effect mobilities of around 700 cm2 per Vs. Furthermore, by scaling down the channel length and integrating with high-k dielectrics, transistors with a significant on-state current density of 1 A mm-1 are demonstrated.

First-principles calculations combining density-functional theory and continuum solvation models enable realistic theoretical modeling and design of electrochemical systems. When a reaction proceeds in such systems, the number of electrons in the portion of the system treated quantum mechanically changes continuously, with a balancing charge appearing in the continuum electrolyte. A grand-canonical ensemble of electrons at a chemical potential set by the electrode potential is therefore the ideal description of such systems that directly mimics the experimental condition. We present two distinct algorithms, a self-consistent field method (GC-SCF) and a direct variational free energy minimization method using auxiliary Hamiltonians (GC-AuxH), to solve the Kohn-Sham equations of electronic density-functional theory directly in the grand canonical ensemble at fixed potential. Both methods substantially improve performance compared to a sequence of conventional fixed-number calculations targeting the desired potential, with the GC-AuxH method additionally exhibiting reliable and smooth exponential convergence of the grand free energy. Finally, we apply grand-canonical DFT to the under-potential deposition of copper on platinum from chloride-containing electrolytes and show that chloride desorption, not partial copper monolayer formation, is responsible for the second voltammetric peak., Comment: 15 pages, 12 figures

Two-dimensional (2D) halide perovskites are emerging as promising candidates for nano-electronics and optoelectronics. To realize their full potential, it is important to understand the role of those defects that can strongly impact material properties. In contrast to other popular 2D semiconductors (e.g. transition metal dichalcogenides MX2) for which defects typically induce harmful traps, we show that the electronic activities of defects in 2D perovskites are significantly tunable. For example, even with a fixed lattice orientation, one can change the synthesis conditions to convert a line defect (edge or grain boundary) from electron acceptor to inactive site without deep gap states. We show that this difference originates from the enhanced ionic bonding in these perovskites compared with MX2. The donors tend to have high formation energies, and the harmful defects are difficult to form at a low halide chemical potential. Thus we unveil unique properties of defects in 2D perovskites and suggest practical routes to improve them.

It is well known that graphite has a low capacity for Na but a high capacity for other alkali metals. The growing interest in alternative cation batteries beyond Li makes it particularly important to elucidate the origin of this behavior, which is not well understood. In examining this question, we find a quite general phenomenon: among the alkali and alkaline earth metals, Na and Mg generally have the weakest chemical binding to a given substrate, compared with the other elements in the same column of the periodic table. We demonstrate this with quantum mechanics calculations for a wide range of substrate materials (not limited to C) covering a variety of structures and chemical compositions. The phenomenon arises from the competition between trends in the ionization energy and the ion-substrate coupling, down the columns of the periodic table. Consequently, the cathodic voltage for Na and Mg is expected to be lower than those for other metals in the same column. This generality provides a basis for analyzing the binding of alkali and alkaline earth metal atoms over a broad range of systems.

Ultrafast laser measurements probe the non-equilibrium dynamics of excited electrons in metals with increasing temporal resolution. Electronic structure calculations can provide a detailed microscopic understanding of hot electron dynamics, but a parameter-free description of pump-probe measurements has not yet been possible, despite intensive research, because of the phenomenological treatment of electron-phonon interactions. We present ab initio predictions of the electron-temperature dependent heat capacities and electron-phonon coupling coefficients of plasmonic metals. We find substantial differences from free-electron and semi-empirical estimates, especially in noble metals above transient electron temperatures of 2000 K, because of the previously-neglected strong dependence of electron-phonon matrix elements on electron energy. We also present first-principles calculations of the electron-temperature dependent dielectric response of hot electrons in plasmonic metals, including direct interband and phonon-assisted intraband transitions, facilitating complete theoretical predictions of the time-resolved optical probe signatures in ultrafast laser experiments., Comment: 10 pages with 12 figures. SI includes tabulation of temperature and frequency dependent dielectric functions

The atomic-level structures of liquids and glasses are amorphous, lacking long-range order. We characterize the atomic structures by integrating radial distribution functions (RDF) from molecular dynamics (MD) simulations for several metallic liquids and glasses: Cu46Zr54, Ni80Al20, Ni33.3Zr66.7, and Pd82Si18. Resulting cumulative coordination numbers (CN) show that metallic liquids have a dimension of d = 2.55 +/- 0.06 from the center atom to the first coordination shell and metallic glasses have d = 2.71 +/- 0.04, both less than 3. Between the first and second coordination shells, both phases crossover to a dimension of d = 3, as for a crystal. Observations from discrete atom center-of-mass position counting are corroborated by continuously counting Cu glass- and liquid-phase atoms on an artificial grid, which accounts for the occupied atomic volume. Results from Cu grid analysis show short-range d = 2.65 for Cu liquid and d = 2.76 for Cu glass. Cu grid structures crossover to d = 3 at {\xi}~8 {\AA} (~3 atomic diameters). We study the evolution of local structural dimensions during quenching and discuss its correlation with the glass transition phenomenon., Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures in main text

Cuprate high-temperature superconductors exhibit a pseudogap in the normal state that decreases monotonically with increasing hole doping and closes at x \approx 0.19 holes per planar CuO2 while the superconducting doping range is 0.05 < x < 0.27 with optimal Tc at x \approx 0.16. Using ab initio quantum calculations at the level that leads to accurate band gaps, we found that four-Cu-site plaquettes are created in the vicinity of dopants. At x \approx 0.05 the plaquettes percolate, so that the Cu dx2y2/O p{\sigma} orbitals inside the plaquettes now form a band of states along the percolating swath. This leads to metallic conductivity and below Tc to superconductivity. Plaquettes disconnected from the percolating swath are found to have degenerate states at the Fermi level that split and lead to the pseudogap. The pseudogap can be calculated by simply counting the spatial distribution of isolated plaquettes, leading to an excellent fit to experiment. This provides strong evidence in favor of inhomogeneous plaquettes in cuprates., Comment: 24 pages (4 pages main text plus 20 pages supplement)

We use first principles methods to study static and dynamical mechanical properties of the ferroelectric polymer Poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) and its copolymer with trifluoro ethylene (TrFE). We use density functional theory [within the generalized gradient approximation (DFT-GGA)] to calculate structures and energetics for various crystalline phases for PVDF and P(VDF-TrFE). We find that the lowest energy phase for PVDF is a non-polar crystal with a combination of trans (T) and gauche (G) bonds; in the case of the copolymer the role of the extra (bulkier) F atoms is to stabilize T bonds. This leads to the higher crystallinity and piezoelectricity observed experimentally. Using the MSXX first principles-based force field (FF) with molecular dynamics (MD), we find that the energy barrier necessary to nucleate a kink (gauche pairs separated by trans bonds) in an all-T crystal is much lower (14.9 kcal/mol) in P(VDF-TrFE) copolymer than in PVDF (24.8 kcal/mol). This correlates with the observation that the polar phase of the copolymer exhibits a solid-solid a transition to a non-polar phase under heating while PVDF directly melts. We also studied the mobility of an interface between a polar and non-polar phases under uniaxial stress; we find a lower threshold stress and a higher mobility in the copolymer as compared with PVDF. Finally, considering plastic deformation under applied shear, we find that the chains for P(VDF-TrFE) have a very low resistance to sliding, particularly along the chain direction. The atomistic characterization of these "unit mechanisms" provides essential input to mesoscopic or macroscopic models of electro-active polymers., Comment: 15 pages 9 figures Electro-active polymer

This manuscript explores the apparent discrepancy between experimental data and theoretical calculations of the lattice resistance of bcc tantalum. We present the first results for the temperature dependence of the Peierls stress in this system and the first ab initio calculation of the zero-temperature Peierls stress to employ periodic boundary conditions, which are those best suited to the study of metallic systems at the electron-structure level. Our ab initio value for the Peierls stress is over five times larger than current extrapolations of experimental lattice resistance to zero-temperature. Although we do find that the common techniques for such extrapolation indeed tend to underestimate the zero-temperature limit, the amount of the underestimation which we observe is only 10-20%, leaving open the possibility that mechanisms other than the simple Peierls stress are important in controlling the process of low temperature slip., Comment: 12 pages and 9 figures

We propose a general strategy to develop accurate Force Fields (FF) for metallic systems derived from ab initio quantum mechanical (QM) calculations; we illustrate this approach for tantalum. As input data to the FF we use the linearized augmented plane wave method (LAPW) with the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) to calculate: (i) the zero temperature equation of state (EOS) of Ta for bcc, fcc, and hcp crystal structures for pressures up to ~500 GPa. (ii) Elastic constants. (iii) We use a mixed-basis pseudopotential code to calculate volume relaxed vacancy formation energy also as a function of pressure. In developing the Ta FF we also use previous QM calculations of: (iv) the equation of state for the A15 structure. (v) the surface energy bcc (100). (vi) energetics for shear twinning of the bcc crystal. We find that withappropriate parameters an embedded atom model force field (denoted as qEAM FF) is able to reproduce all this QM data. Thus, the same FF describes with good accuracy the bcc, fcc, hcp and A15 phases of Ta for pressures from ~ -10 GPa to \~ 500 GPa, while also describing the vacancy, surface energy, and shear transformations. The ability of this single FF to describe such a range of systems with a variety of coordinations suggests that it would be accurate for describing defects such as dislocations, grain boundaries, etc. We illustrate the use of the qEAM FF with molecular dynamics to calculate such finite temperature properties as the melting curve up to 300 GPa; we obtain a zero pressure melting temperature of T_{melt}=3150 +/- 50 K in good agreement with experiment (3213-3287 K). We also report on the thermal expansion of Ta in a wide temperature range; our calculated thermal expansivity agrees well with experimental data., Comment: 11 pages, 14 figures

The Peierls stress for a [111]-screw dislocation in bcc Tantalum is calculated using an embedded atom potential. More importantly, a method is presented which allows accurate calculations of the Peierls stress in the smallest periodic cells. This method can be easily applied to ab initio calculations, where only the smallest unit cells capable of containing a dislocation can be conviently used. The calculation specifically focuses on the case where the maximum resolved shear stress is along a {110}-plane., Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures