The ground state and the bonding properties of the hypothetical cubic zinc-blende-like GeC and SnC compounds

We present a first-principles all-electron total-energy calculations of the structural and electronic properties for group IV zinc-blende-like compoun ds GeC, SnC using the full-potential linearized augmented plane wave (FP-LA PW) approach within the density functional theory (DFT) in the local spin d ensity approximation (LSDA) including the generalized gradient approximatio n (CGA). We have calculated the ground-state energy the lattice constant, t he bulk modulus, and its pressure derivative. The distribution of the valen ce charge density suggests that the bonding in GeC and SnC is more ionic th an in SiC. The results are compared with the few existing measurements and with calculations done by other authors. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.