EMPIRICAL-POTENTIAL STUDIES ON THE STRUCTURAL-PROPERTIES OF SMALL SILICON CLUSTERS

An empirical potential for silicon has been developed. Molecular-dynamics methods and simulated annealing techniques have been used to study the structural properties of small silicon clusters with this potential. A detailed comparison has been made between our results and those obtained from other theoretical methods. It is found that our results are close to those obtained using ab initio techniques. A significant improvement over other empirical potentials has been made.