<i>Ab initio</i>calculation of thermodynamic properties of silicon

Abstract

We present a fully ab initio calculation of the thermodynamic properties for silicon within the quasiharmonic approximation, making use of volume-dependent phonon frequencies obtained from pseudopotential local-density calculations. The temperature dependence of the thermal-expansion coefficient, specific heat (at constant volume), and other related quantities are studied. We confirm that the thermal-expansion coefficient behaves differently in three temperature regions: positive for temperature below 15 K, negative between 15 and 125 K, and positive again above 125 K. This finding agrees with experiment. The abnormal (negative) thermal-expansion coefficient at low temperatures is explained through a detailed study of mode Gr\"uneisen parameters. Both specific-heat and thermal-expansion-coefficient values calculated are in excellent agreement with experiment up to a few hundred kelvin.