A THEORETICAL-STUDY OF THE STABILITY OF THE FULLERENE-LIKE CAGE STRUCTURES OF SILICON CLUSTERS

In order to provide theoretical insight into the structures of silicon clusters of current interest, several representative structural models proposed up to now for the medium size clusters are investigated by means of semi-empirical and ab initio molecular orbital calculations. Unlike general expectation based on the hitherto proposed structural models, it is suggested that silicon clusters also prefer spherical cage (fullerene-like) frameworks with the increase in the size, as do carbon clusters.