Effects of Dislocation Interactions: Application to the Period-Doubled Core of the 90° Partial in Silicon

The elastic strain field of a dislocation is highly affected by nearby dislocations. The effects of dislocation-dislocation interactions on elastic energy and core structure are analyzed using a new and self-consistent method to apply periodic boundary conditions on unit cells containing dislocations. Local density functional theory on hydrogen terminated clusters is used to gauge the effects of long-range elastic fields on the core structure of the 90^∘ partial in silicon. It is shown that the single and double period structures of this core are very close in energy, and that the structure adopted probably depends on the environment in which the dislocation is located.