Uwe Stephan Dissertation This work is concerned with methods and results for the calculation of electronic properties of amorphous carbon models (a-C). These investigations are based upon a very efficient non-selfconsistent ab-initio procedure for the evaluation of electronic states of extended systems using modified self- consistent DFT-LDA states and potentials of neutral atoms. Starting from the LCAO matrices constructed in this method, the electronic densities of states (DOS) of model systems are calculated by diagonalization or with use of the recursion method. Both techniques and, in particular, several versions of the recursion method will be investigated and compared with respect to their numerical efficiency and practical applicability. For DOS calculations in carbon systems a modification of the atomic SCF routine will be proposed and tested in application to the crystalline carbon allotropes diamond and graphite. In this work, the investigation of a-C structures is based on various structural models which have been generated in the author's research group by means of molecular-dynamics simulations using the empirical Tersoff potential as well as the just mentioned DFT-LDA approach. The total energy in this latter procedure is calculated as the sum of the band-structure energy and an empirical repulsive pair potential; contrary to the purely empirical approach, this scheme therefore includes pi-bonding effects and gives rise to a superior description of defect states in these models. As suggested by an analysis of the localization properties of the eigenstates, the defect structure in a-C models depends primarily on the ability of pi- and weak-sigma-bonded undercoordinated atoms to cluster. To investigate these clustering effects, a pi-bonding analysis will be proposed which enables the quantification and classification of the defect states and the estimation of gaps between pi bands. This procedure, which will be justified by local DOS calculations, provides essential structure-property correlations in dependence on the mass densities of the models. Within predominantly fourfold-coordinated models, the occurrence of a certain fraction of threefold-coordinated atoms turns out to stabilize the network by achieving optimum stress and defect minimization due to the preferred formation of pi-bonded atom pairs. Such models exhibit mass densities and pi gaps of about 3.0 g/cm^3 and 2.4 eV, respectively, in close agreement with recent experimental results.

Uwe Stephan Dissertation This work is concerned with methods and results for the calculation of electronic properties of amorphous carbon models (a-C). These investigations are based upon a very efficient non-selfconsistent ab-initio procedure for the evaluation of electronic states of extended systems using modified self- consistent DFT-LDA states and potentials of neutral atoms. Starting from the LCAO matrices constructed in this method, the electronic densities of states (DOS) of model systems are calculated by diagonalization or with use of the recursion method. Both techniques and, in particular, several versions of the recursion method will be investigated and compared with respect to their numerical efficiency and practical applicability. For DOS calculations in carbon systems a modification of the atomic SCF routine will be proposed and tested in application to the crystalline carbon allotropes diamond and graphite. In this work, the investigation of a-C structures is based on various structural models which have been generated in the author's research group by means of molecular-dynamics simulations using the empirical Tersoff potential as well as the just mentioned DFT-LDA approach. The total energy in this latter procedure is calculated as the sum of the band-structure energy and an empirical repulsive pair potential; contrary to the purely empirical approach, this scheme therefore includes pi-bonding effects and gives rise to a superior description of defect states in these models. As suggested by an analysis of the localization properties of the eigenstates, the defect structure in a-C models depends primarily on the ability of pi- and weak-sigma-bonded undercoordinated atoms to cluster. To investigate these clustering effects, a pi-bonding analysis will be proposed which enables the quantification and classification of the defect states and the estimation of gaps between pi bands. This procedure, which will be justified by local DOS calculations, provides essential structure-property correlations in dependence on the mass densities of the models. Within predominantly fourfold-coordinated models, the occurrence of a certain fraction of threefold-coordinated atoms turns out to stabilize the network by achieving optimum stress and defect minimization due to the preferred formation of pi-bonded atom pairs. Such models exhibit mass densities and pi gaps of about 3.0 g/cm^3 and 2.4 eV, respectively, in close agreement with recent experimental results.