Pressure-dependent dynamical and dielectric properties of cubic SiC

The plane-wave pseudopotential approach to the density-functional theory (DFT) in the local-density approximation (LDA) is used for an ab initio calculation of pressure-dependent structural, lattice-dynamical, and dielectric properties of cubic silicon carbide (3C SiC). Whereas the influence of hydrostatic pressure on the structural and the underlying bonding properties is treated within the DFT-LDA, the linear-response theory is applied to describe the pressure dependence of the zone-centre phonon frequencies, the dielectric constant, and the Born effective charge of 3C SiC. Furthermore, the results for 3C SiC are compared with the corresponding ones for silicon and diamond.