arXiv subjects

D. R. Bowler

Publications and source records attributed to D. R. Bowler.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2010

One dimensional Si-in-Si(001) template for single-atom wire growth

Single atom metallic wires of arbitrary length are of immense technological and scientific interest. We describe a novel silicon-only template enabling the self-organised growth of isolated micrometer long surface and subsurface single-atom chains. It consists of a one dimensional, defect-free reconstruction - the Haiku core, here revealed for the first time in details - self-assembled on hydrogenated Si(001) terraces, independent of any step edges. We discuss the potential of this Si-in-Si template as an appealing alternative to vicinal surfaces for nanoscale patterning.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2009

Calculations on millions of atoms with DFT: Linear scaling shows its potential

An overview of the Conquest linear scaling density functional theory (DFT) code is given, focussing particularly on the scaling behaviour on modern high- performance computing (HPC) platforms. We demonstrate that essentially perfect linear scaling and weak parallel scaling (with fixed atoms per processor core) can be achieved, and that DFT calculations on millions of atoms are now possible.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2009

Chemical accuracy for the van der Waals density functional

The non-local van der Waals density functional (vdW-DF) of Dion et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 246401 (2004)] is a very promising scheme for the efficient treatment of dispersion bonded systems. We show here that the accuracy of vdW-DF can be dramatically improved both for dispersion and hydrogen bonded complexes through the judicious selection of its underlying exchange functional. New and published exchange functionals are identified that deliver much better than chemical accuracy from vdW-DF for the S22 benchmark set of weakly interacting dimers and for water clusters. Improved performance for the adsorption of water on salt is also obtained.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2006

The transfer of energy between electrons and ions in solids

In this review we consider those processes in condensed matter that involve the irreversible flow of energy between electrons and nuclei that follows from a system being taken out of equilibrium. We survey some of the more important experimental phenomena associated with these processes, followed by a number of theoretical techniques for studying them. The techniques considered are those that can be applied to systems containing many non-equivalent atoms. They include both perturbative approaches (Fermi's Golden Rule, and non-equilibrium Green's functions) and molecular dynamics based (the Ehrenfest approximation, surface hopping, semi-classical gaussian wavefunction methods and correlated electron-ion dynamics). These methods are described and characterised, with indications of their relative merits.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2006

Recent progress with large-scale ab initio calculations: the CONQUEST code

While the success of density functional theory (DFT) has led to its use in a wide variety of fields such as physics, chemistry, materials science and biochemistry, it has long been recognised that conventional methods are very inefficient for large complex systems, because the memory requirements scale as $N^2$ and the cpu requirements as $N^3$ (where $N$ is the number of atoms). The principles necessary to develop methods with linear scaling of the cpu and memory requirements with system size ($\mathcal{O}(N)$ methods) have been established for more than ten years, but only recently have practical codes showing this scaling for DFT started to appear. We report recent progress in the development of the \textsc{Conquest} code, which performs $\mathcal{O}(N)$ DFT calculations on parallel computers, and has a demonstrated ability to handle systems of over 10,000 atoms. The code can be run at different levels of precision, ranging from empirical tight-binding, through \textit{ab initio} tight-binding, to full \textit{ab initio}, and techniques for calculating ionic forces in a consistent way at all levels of precision will be presented. Illustrations are given of practical \textsc{Conquest} calculations in the strained Ge/Si(001) system.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2005

Self-assembled nanowires on semiconductor surfaces

A number of different families of nanowires which self-assemble on semiconductor surfaces have been identified in recent years. They are particularly interesting from the standpoint of nanoelectronics, which seeks non-lithographic ways of creating interconnects at the nanometre scale (though possibly for carrying signal rather than current), as well as from the standpoint of traditional materials science and surface science. We survey these families and consider their physical and electronic structure, as well as their formation and reactivity. Particular attention is paid to rare earth nanowires and the Bi nanoline, both of which self-assemble on Si(001).

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2003

A spin-polarised first principles study of short dangling bond wires on Si(001)

Short dangling bond wires (DB wires), fabricated on H-terminated Si(001) surfaces, show patterns of displacement that depend on their length. We have performed density function calculations, with and without spin-polarisation, designed to investigate the atomic and electronic structure of these wires. As expected, we find that even length wires are accurately modelled by non-spin polarised calculations, whilst odd length wires must be modelled using spin-polarised calculations. In particular, the use of spin-polarisation provides quantative agreement with STM observations, rather than the qualitative agreement reported elsewhere.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2003

Soliton effects in dangling-bond wires on Si(001)

Dangling bond wires on Si(001) are prototypical one dimensional wires, which are expected to show polaronic and solitonic effects. We present electronic structure calculations, using the tight binding model, of solitons in dangling-bond wires, and demonstrate that these defects are stable in even-length wires, although approximately 0.1 eV higher in energy than a perfect wire. We also note that in contrast to conjugated polymer systems, there are two types of soliton and that the type of soliton has strong effects on the energetics of the bandgap edges, with formation of intra-gap states between 0.1 eV and 0.2 eV from the band edges. These intra-gap states are localised on the atoms comprising the soliton.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2002

Interaction between electronic structure and strain in Bi nanolines on Si(001)

Heteroepitaxial strain can be a controlling factor in the lateral dimensions of 1-D nanostructures. Bi nanolines on Si(001) have an atomic structure which involves a large sub-surface reconstruction, resulting in a strong elastic coupling to the surrounding silicon. We present variable-bias STM and first principles electronic structure calculations of the Bi nanolines, which investigates this interaction. We show that the strain associated with the nanolines affects the atomic and electronic structure of at least two neighbouring Si dimers, and identify the mechanism behind this. We also present partial charge densities (projected by energy) for the nanoline with clean and hydrogenated surroundings and contrast it to the clean Si(001) surface.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2002

Diffusion of a polaron in dangling bond wires on Si(001)

Injecting charge into dangling bond wires on Si(001) has been shown to induce polarons, which are weakly coupled to the underlying bulk phonons. We present elevated temperature tight binding molecular dynamics simulations designed to obtain a diffusion barrier for the diffusive motion of these polarons. The results indicate that diffusion of the polarons would be observable at room temperature, and that the polarons remain localised even at high temperatures.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2002

Formation of clean dimers during gas-source growth of Si(001)

Elevated temperature STM measurements have shown that one key phase during gas-source homoepitaxy of Si(001) is the formation of clean Si ad-dimers from hydrogenated ad-dimers, though the mechanism for this formation is unknown. We present ab initio density functional calculations designed to explore this mechanism. The calculations show that there is a pathway consistent with the experimentally observed reaction rates, which proceeds via a meta-stable intermediate, and is effectively irreversible. This result fills a vital gap in our understanding of the atomic-scale details of gas-source growth of Si(001).

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2002

Tight binding studies of strained Ge/Si(001) growth

Experimental observations of the growth of more than one monolayer of Ge on Si(001) show a progression of effects beyond the (2xN) reconstruction which is seen at submonolayer coverages: a reduction in the value of N with coverage; formation of straight trenches of missing dimer vacancies; and formation of the (MxN) ``patch'' structure. We present tight binding calculations which investigate the energetics and geometries associated with these effects, and extend our earlier treatment of formation energies for reconstructions with different stoichiometries to the case of several layers of Ge. The results provide explanations for the various effects seen, and are in good agreement with experimental observations.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2002

A first principles study of sub-monolayer Ge on Si(001)

Experimental observations of heteroepitaxial growth of Ge on Si(001) show a (2xn) reconstruction for sub-monolayer coverages, with dimer rows crossed by missing-dimer trenches. We present first-principles density-functional calculations designed to elucidate the energetics and relaxed geometries associated with this reconstruction. We also address the problem of how the formation energies of reconstructions having different stoichiometries should be compared. The calculations reveal a strong dependence of the formation energy of the missing-dimer trenches on spacing n, and demonstrate that this dependence stems almost entirely from elastic relaxation. The results provide a natural explanation for the experimentally observed spacings in the region of n \~ 8.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2002

Structure of Bi nanolines: using tight-binding to search parameter space

We describe how we have used tight binding calculations as a quick, efficient tool to search for possible structures of Bi nanolines on Si(001). After identifying promising candidate structures, we have concentrated on these with \textit{ab initio} electronic structure techniques. The energetics of the tight binding are shown to be in good agreement with the density functional calculations and with experimental observations, and have proved invaluable in the search for a structure, validating the use of tightbinding as a search tool.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2002

Stress relief as the driving force for self-assembled Bi nanolines

Stress resulting from mismatch between a substrate and an adsorbed material has often been thought to be the driving force for the self-assembly of nanoscale structures. Bi nanolines self-assemble on Si(001), and are remarkable for their straightness and length -- they are often more than 400 nm long, and a kink in a nanoline has never been observed. Through electronic structure calculations, we have found an energetically favourable structure for these nanolines that agrees with our scanning tunneling microscopy and photoemission experiments; the structure has an extremely unusual subsurface structure, comprising a double core of 7-membered rings of silicon. Our proposed structure explains all the observed features of the nanolines, and shows that surface stress resulting from the mismatch between the Bi and the Si substrate are responsible for their self-assembly. This has wider implications for the controlled growth of nanostructures on semiconductor surfaces.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2000

Parallel Sparse Matrix Multiplication for Linear Scaling Electronic Structure Calculations

Linear-scaling electronic-structure techniques, also called O(N) techniques, rely heavily on the multiplication of sparse matrices, where the sparsity arises from spatial cut-offs. In order to treat very large systems, the calculations must be run on parallel computers. We analyse the problem of parallelising the multiplication of sparse matrices with the sparsity pattern required by linear-scaling techniques. We show that the management of inter-node communications and the effective use of on-node cache are helped by organising the atoms into compact groups. We also discuss how to identify a key part of the code called the `multiplication kernel', which is repeatedly invoked to build up the matrix product, and explicit code is presented for this kernel. Numerical tests of the resulting multiplication code are reported for cases of practical interest, and it is shown that their scaling properties for systems containing up to 20,000 atoms on machines having up to 512 processors are excellent. The tests also show that the cpu efficiency of our code is satisfactory.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2000

Small polaron formation in dangling-bond wires on the Si(001) surface

From electronic structure calculations, we find that carriers injected into dangling-bond atomic wires on the Si(001) surface will self-trap to form localised polaron states. The self-trapping distortion takes the form of a local suppression of the buckling of the dimers in the wire, and is qualitatively different for the electron and hole polarons. This result points to the importance of polaronic effects in understanding electronic motion in such nanostructures.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2000

An Efficient and Robust Technique for Achieving Self Consistency in Electronic Structure Calculations

Pulay's Residual Metric Minimization (RMM) method is one of the standard techniques for achieving self consistency in ab initio electronic structure calculations. We describe a reformulation of Pulay's RMM which guarantees reduction of the residual at each step. The new version avoids the use of empirical mixing parameters, and is expected to be more robust than the original version. We present practical tests of the new method implemented in a standard code based on density-functional theory (DFT), pseudopotentials, and plane-wave basis sets. The tests show improved speed in achieving self consistency for a variety of condensed-matter systems.

cond-mat↗