No Arabic abstract
We develop a first-principles electron-transport simulator based on the Lippmann--Schwinger (LS) equation within the framework of the real-space finite-difference scheme. In our fully real-space based LS (grid LS) method, the ratio expression technique for the scattering wave functions and the Greens function elements of the reference system is employed to avoid numerical collapse. Furthermore, we present analytical expressions and/or prominent calculation procedures for the retarded Greens function, which are utilized in the grid LS approach. In order to demonstrate the performance of the grid LS method, we simulate the electron-transport properties of the semiconductor/oxide interfaces sandwiched between semi-infinite metal electrodes. The results confirm that the leakage current through the (001)Si/SiO$_2$ model becomes much larger when the dangling-bond (DB) state is induced by a defect in the oxygen layer while that through the (001)Ge/GeO$_2$ model is insensitive to the DB state.
A first-principles approach based on Density Functional Theory and Non-Equilibrium Greens functions is used to study the molecular transport system consisting of benzenedithiolate connected with monoatomic gold and platinum electrodes. Using symmetry arguments we explain why the conductance mechanism is different for gold and platinum electrodes. We present the charge stability diagram for the benzenedithiolate connected with monoatomic platinum electrodes including many-body effects in terms of an extended Hubbard Hamiltonian and discuss how the electrodes and the many-body effects influence the transport properties of the system.
We present details of our effective computational methods based on the real-space finite-difference formalism to elucidate electronic and magnetic properties of the two-dimensional (2D) materials within the framework of the density functional theory. The real-space finite-difference formalism enables us to treat truly 2D computational models by imposing individual boundary condition on each direction. The formulae for practical computations under the boundary conditions specific to the 2D materials are derived and the electronic band structures of 2D materials are demonstrated using the proposed method. Additionally, we introduce other first-principles works on the MoS2 monolayer focusing on the modulation of electronic and magnetic properties originating from lattice defects.
The recent paper by Fujimoto and Hirose makes an unfortunate error in discussing the use of the jellium model for the electrodes, which has the effect of making it appear that this model is not adequate to treat the problem of the conductance of gold nanowires. In fact it is entirely adequate, and gives results quite similar to those found in the authors more elaborate treatment.
We present a fast and stable numerical technique to obtain the self-energy terms of electrodes for first-principles electron-transport calculations. Although first-principles calculations based on the real-space finite-difference method are advantageous for execution on massively parallel computers, large-scale transport calculations are hampered by the computational cost and numerical instability of the computation of the self-energy terms. Using the orthogonal complement vectors of the space spanned by the generalized Bloch waves that actually contribute to transport phenomena, the computational accuracy of transport properties is significantly improved with a moderate computational cost. To demonstrate the efficiency of the present technique, the electron-transport properties of a Stone-Wales (SW) defect in graphene and silicene are examined. The resonance scattering of the SW defect is observed in the conductance spectrum of silicene since the $sigma^ast$ state of silicene lies near the Fermi energy. In addition, we found that one conduction channel is sensitive to a defect near the Fermi energy, while the other channel is hardly affected. This characteristic behavior of the conduction channels is interpreted in terms of the bonding network between the bilattices of the honeycomb structure in the formation of the SW defect. The present technique enables us to distinguish the different behaviors of the two conduction channels in graphene and silicene owing to its excellent accuracy.
In recent years, nanostructuring of dielectric and semiconducting crystals has enhanced controllability of their thermal conductivity. To carry out computational material search for nanostructured materials with desirable thermal conductivity, a key property is the thermal conductivity spectrum of the original single crystal, which determines the appropriate length scale of nanostructures and mutual adaptability of different kinds of nanostructures. Although the first-principles phonon transport calculations have become accessible, the anharmonic lattice dynamics calculations are still heavy to scan many materials. To this end, we have developed an empirical model that describes the thermal conductivity spectrum in terms only of harmonic phonon properties and bulk thermal conductivity. The model was tested for several crystals with different structures and thermal conductivities, and was confirmed to reproduce the overall profiles of thermal conductivity spectra and their anharmonic calculations.