Theoretical Hardness of Wurtzite-Structured Semiconductors

Abstract

Vickers hardness calculations of eleven wurtzite-structured semiconductors are performed based on the microscopic hardness model. All the parameters are obtained from first-principles calculations. There are two types of chemical bonds in wurtzite-structured crystals. The overlap populations of the two types of chemical bonds in lonsdaleite are chosen as Pc for wurtzite structure. The calculated bond ionicity values of the wurtzite-structured semiconductors are in good agreement with the ionicities from the dielectric definition. When the hardness of wurtzite-structured crystal is higher than 20GPa, our calculated Vickers hardness is within 10% accuracy. Therefore, the hardness of novel wurtzite-structured crystal could be estimated from first-principles calculations.