First principles calculations were performed to investigate the structural, elastic, and electronic properties of IrN2 for various space groups: cubic Fm-3m and Pa-3, hexagonal P3(2)21, tetragonal P4(2)/mnm, orthorhombic Pmmn, Pnnm, and Pnn2, and monoclinic P2(1)/c. Our calculation indicates that the P2(1)/c phase with arsenopyrite-type structure is energetically more stable than the other phases. It is semiconducting (the remaining phases are metallic) and contains diatomic N-N with the bond distance of 1.414 A. These characters are consistent with the experimental facts that IrN2 is in lower symmetry and nonmetallic. Our conclusion is also in agreement with the recent theoretical studies that the most stable phase of IrN2 is monoclinic P2(1)/c. The calculated bulk modulus of 373 GPa is also the highest among the considered space groups. It matches the recent theoretical values of 357 GPa within 4.3% and of 402 GPa within 7.8%, but smaller than the experimental value of 428 GPa by 14.7%. Chemical bonding and potential displacive phase transitions are discussed for IrN2. For IrN3, cubic skutterudite structure (Im-3) was assumed.

Crystal structures and elastic properties of superhard IrN2 and IrN3 from first principles

Titanium nitride (TiN) is one of the most well-established engineering materials nowadays. TiN can overcome most of the drawbacks of palsmonic metals due to its high electron conductivity and mobility, high melting point and due to the compatibility of its growth with Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) technology. In this work, we review the dielectric function spectra of TiN and we evaluate the plasmonic performance of TiN by calculating (i) the Surface Plasmon Polariton (SPP) dispersion relations and (ii) the Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance (LSPR) band of TiN nanoparticles, and we demonstrate a significant plasmonic performance of TiN.

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Optical Properties and Plasmonic Performance of Titanium Nitride

The nitrides of most of the group IVb-Vb-VIb transition metals (TiN, ZrN, HfN, VN, NbN, TaN, MoN, WN) constitute the unique category of conductive ceramics. Having substantial electronic conductivity, exceptionally high melting points and covering a wide range of work function values, they were considered for a variety of electronic applications, which include diffusion barriers in metallizations of integrated circuits, Ohmic contacts on compound semiconductors, and thin film resistors, since early eighties. Among them, TiN and ZrN are recently emerging as significant candidates for plasmonic applications. So the possible plasmonic activity of the rest of transition metal nitrides (TMN) emerges as an important open question. In this work, we exhaustively review the experimental and computational (mostly ab initio) works in the literature dealing with the optical properties and electronic structure of TMN spanning over three decades of time and employing all the available growth techniques. We critically evaluate the optical properties of all TMN and we model their predicted plasmonic response. Hence, we provide a solid understanding of the intrinsic (e.g. the valence electron configuration of the constituent metal) and extrinsic (e.g. point defects and microstructure) factors that dictate the plasmonic performance. Based on the reported optical spectra, we evaluate the quality factors for surface plasmon polariton and localized surface plasmon for various TMN and critically compare them to each other. We demonstrate that, indeed TiN and ZrN along with HfN are the most well-performing plasmonic materials in the visible range, while VN and NbN may be viable alternatives for plasmonic devices in the blue, violet and near UV ranges, albeit in expense of increased electronic loss. Furthermore, we consider the alloyed ternary TMN and by critical evaluation and comparison of the reported experimental and computational works, we identify the emerging optimal tunable plasmonic conductors among the immense number of alloying combinations.

Conductive nitrides: Growth principles, optical and electronic properties, and their perspectives in photonics and plasmonics

Based on the detailed analysis of chemical bonds, we present a Vickers hardness expression for the covalency-dominant crystals such as transition-metal carbides and nitrides. Hardness is dependent not only on bond length, bond density, and ionicity of bond [F. M. Gao et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 015502 (2003)] but also on the metallicity of bond and orbital form in the crystal structure of a compound, and all of these parameters can be determined by first-principles calculations. The calculated hardness using our expression has a good agreement with the experimental values for known monocarbides, mononitrides of transition metals, and cubic Zr3N4 with Th3P4 structure. In addition, we have predicted the Vickers hardness of the recently predicted tetragonal BC3 and tetragonal B2CN, and the recently synthesized pyrite PtN2 and marcasite OsN2. Our method offers one useful technique to search for superhard materials in transition-metal carbides and nitrides.

Hardness of covalent compounds: Roles of metallic component and d valence electrons

Compared to oxides, the nitrides are relatively unexplored, making them a promising chemical space for novel materials discovery. Of particular interest are nitrogen-rich nitrides, which often possess useful semiconducting properties for electronic and optoelectronic applications. However, such nitrogen-rich compounds are generally metastable, and the lack of a guiding theory for their synthesis has limited their exploration. Here, we review the remarkable metastability of observed nitrides, and examine the thermodynamics of how reactive nitrogen precursors can stabilize metastable nitrogen-rich compositions during materials synthesis. We map these thermodynamic strategies onto a predictive computational search, training a data-mined ionic substitution algorithm specifically for nitride discovery, which we combine with grand-canonical DFT-SCAN phase stability calculations to compute stabilizing nitrogen chemical potentials. We identify several new nitrogen-rich binary nitrides for experimental investigati...

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Thermodynamic Routes to Novel Metastable Nitrogen-Rich Nitrides

A systematic theoretical study is presented for the electronic, mechanical, and optical properties of cubic Ti3N4, Zr3N4, and Hf3N4 with the Th3P4 structure in the framework of density functional theory. The calculated band structures of Ti3N4, Zr3N4, and Hf3N4 show the indirect band gaps of 0.268, 0.909, and 1.00eV, respectively. Furthermore, the optical properties for all three materials were calculated and analyzed in detail. The calculated results are well consistent with available experimental data. Also, it is shown that all these materials have relatively large static dielectric constants at zero frequency, rendering them potential applications in microelectronic devices.

Optical properties of cubic Ti3N4, Zr3N4, and Hf3N4

The properties of metal nanoparticles have received considerable attention due to their wide range of applications extending from surface-sensitive spectroscopic analysis to catalysis and microwave polarizers. Various methods for synthesizing these nanoparticles, both spheres and rods, have been described. In this paper, the simulated optical properties of Au nanoparticles are presented. The extinction e‐ciencies are calculated using the discrete dipole approximation (DDA). The in∞uence of the nanoparticle size and shape on the plasmon resonance bands is investigated. For spherical particles with R • 10 nm, the intensity of extinction increases with increasing radius, but the position of maximum in the spectrum, which is associated with plasmon resonance, does not change. For particles with 10 50 nm, the extinction spectrum decreases with increasing radius and becomes irregular. For spheroidal and rod-like nanoparticle, there are two peaks in the extinction spectra corresponding to the transverse and the longitudinal resonances. With increasing aspect ratio, the extinction spectral peak of the transverse mode shifts to shorter wavelength while that of the longitudinal mode shifts to longer wavelength. Our theoretical results explain the experimental data well.

Theoretical Calculation of the Optical Properties of Gold Nanoparticles

Group-IV phosphides are relatively unknown materials as compared to the Group-IV carbide. In this work, we detailed the first principles calculations of the electronic and optical properties of the pseudocubic M3P4 (M=Si, Ge, Sn) using the density function theory (DFT). Results are in good agreement with those previous works. Furthermore, the optical constants, such as the dielectric function, energy loss function and effective number of valence electrons are calculated and presented in the study.

Gang Yin

Papers

Optical properties of cubic Ti3N4, Zr3N4, and Hf3N4

Theoretical Calculation of the Optical Properties of Gold Nanoparticles

Theoretical investigation of the electronic and optical properties of pseudocubic Si(3)P(4), Ge(3)P(4) and Sn(3)P(4).

Density Functional Calculations for Ferromagnetic Mn3Ge with a Cu3Au-Type Structure