Abstract
Amorphous silicon (-Si) networks have been generated from melted Si with various quenching rates by molecular-dynamics (MD) simulations employing the Tersoff potential. The cooling rates were set between and the latter is the slowest quenching rate in MD simulations previously performed. Although the atomic configurations formed by the cooling rate of could reproduce the radial distribution function of -Si obtained experimentally, they contained numerous structural defects such as threefold- and fivefold-coordinated atoms. As the cooling rate decreased, the average coordination number became and tetrahedral bonds predominated. The structural and dynamical properties of -Si generated by a cooling rate with were in excellent agreement with those of -Si obtained experimentally.
- Received 24 June 1997
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.56.15133
©1997 American Physical Society