Non-equilibrium properties of GaAs interatomic potentials

ion irradiation can lead to local melting and other large distortions in a material. Thus, it is very important that computer simulation models of irr adiation phenomena can describe melting and structure changes well. In the present paper we examine how GaAs interatomic potentials, which have been u sed to describe irradiation phenomena in the literature, behave on melting. We show that the most commonly used GaAs potential [M. Sayed et al., Nucl. Instr. and Meth. Phys. Res. B 102 (1995) 232] does not have the correct gr ound state structure, making it unsuitable for describing ion irradiation p rocesses. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.