Phase stability, mechanical and thermodynamic properties of orthorhombic and trigonal MgSiN₂: an ab initio study

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Structural stability and mechanical and thermodynamic properties of the orthorhombic and trigonal MgSiN2 polymorphs (or-MgSiN2 and tr-MgSiN2) were investigated through density functional theory and quasi-harmonic Debye model (QHDM). Our calculations show that or-MgSiN2 is energetically the stable polymorph at low pressure, in agreement with previous experimental and theoretical study. Under pressure, a crystallographic transition from the orthorhombic structure to the trigonal one occurs around 25, 17.45 and 19.05 GPa as obtained from the generalized gradient approximation of Perdew-Wang (GGA-PW91), the generalized gradient approximation parameterized recently by Perdew et al (GGA-PBEsol) and the local density approximation developed by Ceperley and Alder and parameterized by Perdew and Zunger (LDA-CAPZ), respectively. Single-crystalline and polycrystalline elastic constants and related properties, namely Vickers hardness, acoustic Grüneisen parameter, minimum thermal conductivity, isotropic sound velocities and Debye temperature, were numerically estimated for both or-MgSiN2 and tr-MgSiN2. We have showed that the hardness of tr-MgSiN2 is comparable to that of the harder materials like c-BN and B6O. Temperature and pressure dependencies of volume, bulk modulus, thermal expansion, Grüneisen parameter, heat capacities and Debye temperature were investigated using QHDM.