Density functional modeling of structural and electronic properties of amorphous high temperature oxides

Ab initio molecular dynamics modeling in the NPT ensemble is used to obtain amorphous states by melting SiO2, ZrO2 and HfO2 crystals. A wide range of melt stabilization temperatures are used. Two types of SiO2 amorphous states are obtained. For melt temperatures below 4500 K, a perfect silica glass is obtained without any point defects. For melt temperatures above 4500 K, silica point defects such as threefold coordinated oxygen atoms, edge-sharing SiO4-tetrahedra, and others together with a wide range of Si-O-Si rings including 3-, and 4-membered rings appear. When the temperature of the melt exceeds the ZrO2 and Hf-O2 crystal melting point by 100 - 400 K, a sharp drop in the density of amorphous states is observed, accompanied by a decrease in atomic coordination, but this does not lead to the formation of defect states in the depth of the band gap of hafnium and zirconium dioxides.

Automated summary

Ab initio molecular dynamics modeling is used to obtain amorphous states of SiO2, ZrO2, and HfO2 crystals under different temperature conditions. The structural characteristics of the obtained amorphous states are analyzed and discussed. The findings show that the amorphous state features vary with different materials and temperature conditions.