StillingerWeberPotenziale

StillingerWeber potentials are empirical interatomic potentials used in molecular dynamics simulations to model the behavior of silicon and related materials. Developed by Frank Stillinger and Thomas Weber in the 1980s, these potentials are designed to capture the directional bonding characteristics of covalent materials, which are not adequately represented by simpler pair potentials. The Stillinger-Weber potential is a many-body potential, meaning it depends not only on the distance between pairs of atoms but also on the angles between triplets of atoms. This angular dependence is crucial for correctly describing the stability of different crystal structures and the energetics of phase transitions, such as melting and solidification. The functional form of the potential includes two-body terms that describe attractive and repulsive forces between atoms and three-body terms that favor specific bond angles, typically around the tetrahedral coordination found in silicon. These potentials have been widely employed to study a range of phenomena, including melting points, structural properties, defect formation, and amorphous silicon. While effective for silicon, variations and extensions of the Stillinger-Weber potential have been developed to model other covalent materials like germanium and carbon.