Molecular dynamics study of amorphous InSb

Abstract Molecular dynamics technique is used to study structural correlations in amorphous InSb. The simulations were based on an effective interatomic potential consisting of two-body and three-body interactions. The two-body interaction includes steric repulsion, charge–charge (Coulomb), charge–dipole, and dipole–dipole interactions. Covalent effects are taken into account through three-body bond-bending and bond-stretching terms. A very well thermalized glass at 300 K was prepared from melting for different system size, with number of particles ranging from 1000 (500 In + 500 Sb) to 64 000 (32 000 In + 32 000 Sb). Structural correlations and the topology of the atoms were investigated through the analyses of the shortest path rings, static structure factors and bond-angle distributions. Very good agreement in r -space as well in q -space was achieved with experimental X-ray diffraction data.