Transferable atomic-type orbital basis sets for solids

As the limitations of the plane-wave basis set are creating practical probl ems it is important to find alternatives without these limitations. In this paper basis sets constructed from numerical atomic-type orbitals are inves tigated for silicon, carbon, and aluminum. Modest basis sets are found to g ive accuracies comparable to those found from typical plane-wave simulation s for a wide range of coordinations and mechanical properties.