Pressure induced B3-B1 structural phase transition and elastic properties of monopnictides InX (X = N, P, As)

Abstract

An effective interionic interaction potential is developed to discuss the pressure induced structural phase transformation and mechanical properties of InX (X = N, P, As) semiconducting compounds. The effective interionic potential consists of the long-range Coulomb and three-body interactions and the Hafemeister and Flygare type short-range overlap repulsion extended upto the second neighbour ions and the van der Waals interaction. The present calculations have revealed reasonably good agreement with the available experimental data on the phase transition pressures (P_t = 11.5, 10, 7.5 GPa) and the elastic properties of InX (X = N, P, As). The equation of state curves (plotted between V (P)/V(0) and pressure) for both the structures zincblende (B3) and rocksalt (B1) structures obtained by us are in fairly good agreement with the experimental results. The calculated values of the volume collapses [ΔV(P)/V(0)] are also closer to their observed data.

Keywords:

• phase transition
• equation of state
• elastic constants
• interionic potential

Acknowledgements

Financial assistance from the U. G. C., New Delhi is gratefully acknowledged.