EFFECTS OF DISLOCATION INTERACTIONS - APPLICATION TO THE PERIOD-DOUBLED CORE OF THE 90-DEGREES PARTIAL IN SILICON

The elastic strain field of a dislocation is highly affected by nearby dislocations. The effects of dislocation-dislocation interactions on elastic energy and core structure are analyzed using a new and self-co nsistent method to apply periodic boundary conditions on unit cells co ntaining dislocations. Local density functional theory on hydrogen ter minated clusters is used to gauge the effects of long-range elastic fi elds on the core structure of the 90 degrees partial in silicon. It is shown that the single and double period structures of this core are v ery close in energy, and that the structure adopted probably depends o n the environment in which the dislocation is located.