Calculations of molecules, clusters, and solids with a simplified LCAO-DFT-LDA scheme

A simplified LCAO-DFT-LDA scheme for calculations of structure and electronic structure of large molecules, clusters, and solids is presented. Forces on the atoms are calculated in a semiempirical way considering the electronic states. The small computational effort of this treatment allows one to perform molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of molecules and clusters up to a few hundred atoms as well as corresponding simulations of condensed systems within the Born-Oppenheimer approximation. The accuracy of the method is illustrated by the results of calculations for a series of small molecules and clusters. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.