The meaning of the relative location of the Fermi energy.

Queries about input and output files, running specific calculations, etc.


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cyc99
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The meaning of the relative location of the Fermi energy.

#1 Post by cyc99 » Mon Nov 15, 2010 4:55 am

First, I got the accurate total energy with uniformly distributed dense k-points. The obtained CHGCAR file was used to get the BandStructure along special k-points, which resulted in very different location of the Fermi level comparing to the Fermi level obtained from accurate total energy calculation. If I draw the BandStructure, which one of the Fermi levels should I use?
Last edited by cyc99 on Mon Nov 15, 2010 4:55 am, edited 1 time in total.

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The meaning of the relative location of the Fermi energy.

#2 Post by admin » Mon Dec 27, 2010 4:07 pm

in all ab initio codes, the Fermi level is the enery level of the highest occupied Kohn-Sham state. This of course varies if you change the k-mesh. Usually the band edges are at one of the special k-points (Gamma, R,...), which most probably these were included in the k-mesh of the band structure run.
Last edited by admin on Mon Dec 27, 2010 4:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.

tlchan

The meaning of the relative location of the Fermi energy.

#3 Post by tlchan » Tue Dec 28, 2010 4:01 pm

You should use the Fermi level obtained from the first calculation, because the k-point sampling maps the whole irreducible Brillouin zone. For a band-structure calculation, the k-points are usually along some high-symmetry direction of the Brillouin zone only. Hence, the Fermi level is not accurate in general for your second calculation, just that VASP calculates and prints out the Fermi level whatever.
Last edited by tlchan on Tue Dec 28, 2010 4:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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The meaning of the relative location of the Fermi energy.

#4 Post by admin » Thu Dec 30, 2010 1:25 pm

please read some standard physics textbooks: usually the VBM is at one of the special k-points of the BZ
Last edited by admin on Thu Dec 30, 2010 1:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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