Tight-binding molecular dynamics studies of covalent systems

Tight-binding molecular dynamics has recently emerged as a useful method for studying the structural, dynamical, and electronic properties of covalent systems. The method incorporates electronic structure calculation into molecular dynamics through an empirical tight-binding Hamiltonian and bridges the gap between ab initio molecular dynamics and simulations using empirical classical potentials. In this article we review some recent achievements of the tight-binding molecular dynamics method and discuss some opportunities for future development.