Empirical interatomic potential for the mechanical, vibrational and thermodynamic properties of semiconductors

Empirical models are widely used to simulate large atomic structures where instead ab initio methods are not practical because of computational limitations. However models such as Tersoff potential, Valence Force Field, or Stillinger- Weber potential have some restrictions in correctly predicting simultaneously both elastic and vibrational properties of the crystals. Thus, extension of the functional form of the potentials by including further atomic interactions compared to the simple 2- and 3-body terms, is required. An empirical interatomic potential is proposed which represents a substantial improvement of the Tersoff potential for semiconductors modelling. The new model includes multi-bond interactions and the volume dependency by considering the tetrahedron distortions of the covalent crystal.