[QE-users] SCF calculations on WN supercell not converging

Lorenzo Paulatto paulatz at gmail.com
Fri Jun 19 11:36:23 CEST 2020


It may happen in a system with a lot of vacuum that an electrons prefers 
to stay in the vacuum, when this happens the SC usually does not 
converge (and if it did, it would make no sense). You can check if this 
is the case, by plotting the non-converged charge density and see if 
there is anything in the vacuum.

Possible solutions include:
  1) reducing the vacuum region
  2) using 2D-specific corrections can make the vacuum less appealing
     (this usually allows you to use less vacuum as well)
  3) changing the structure of the slab, i.e. adding a strongly electro-
    negative ion to capture the excess charge
  4) set "scf_must_converge" to false, and hope that the problem goes
     away after relax

cheers

On 6/17/20 11:31 PM, Coralie Khabbaz wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I am doing an scf calculation on a tungsten nitride (WN) slab 
> (catalyst), with a methane molecule 5 Angstrom away from the surface. 
> The energy values are not converging, even after 533 iterations. The 
> energy values are very negative, and then they increase to a positive 
> value then decrease a lot again. Before building the supercell, I had a 
> WN unit cell with 433 K-points. Then, I built the super cell by using a 
> scaling of 333 and miller indices of 100. I tried using K points of 111 
> and 222 for my super cell, but the calculations didn't converge for both.
> 
> This is the input file I am using:
> 
> &CONTROL
>      calculation  = "scf"
>      max_seconds  =  1.72800e+05
>      pseudo_dir   = "/home/coralee/projects/def-jkopysci/coralee/.pseudopot"
>      restart_mode = "from_scratch"
> /
> 
> &SYSTEM
>      a                         =  1.24907e+01
>      angle1(1)                 =  0.00000e+00
>      angle1(2)                 =  0.00000e+00
>      angle2(1)                 =  0.00000e+00
>      angle2(2)                 =  0.00000e+00
>      b                         =  1.34803e+01
>      c                         =  2.52767e+01
>      cosab                     =  6.12323e-17
>      cosac                     =  6.12323e-17
>      cosbc                     = -1.85547e-01
>      degauss                   =  1.00000e-02
>      ecutrho                   =  4.50000e+02
>      ecutwfc                   =  5.00000e+01
>      ibrav                     = 14
>      nat                       = 113
>      nspin                     = 2
>      ntyp                      = 4
>      occupations               = "smearing"
>      smearing                  = "gaussian"
>      starting_magnetization(1) =  2.00000e-01
>      starting_magnetization(2) =  6.00000e-01
>      starting_magnetization(3) =  0.00000e+00
>      starting_magnetization(4) =  0.00000e+00
> /
> 
> &ELECTRONS
>      conv_thr         =  1.00000e-06
>      diagonalization  = "david"
>      electron_maxstep = 528
>      mixing_beta      =  4.00000e-01
>      startingpot      = "atomic"
>      startingwfc      = "atomic+random"
> /
> 
> K_POINTS {automatic}
>   4  4  2  0 0 0
> 
> ATOMIC_SPECIES
> N      14.00674  N.pbe-n-rrkjus_psl.1.0.0.UPF
> W     183.84000  W.pbe-spn-rrkjus_psl.1.0.0.UPF
> C      12.01070  C.pbe-n-rrkjus_psl.1.0.0.UPF
> H       1.00794  H.pbe-rrkjus_psl.1.0.0.UPF
> 
> ATOMIC_POSITIONS {angstrom}
> N       2.481849   0.418242  14.837784
> N       6.645429   0.418242  14.837784
> N      10.809008   0.418242  14.837784
> N       2.481849   4.911686  14.837784
> N       6.645429   4.911686  14.837784
> N      10.809008   4.911686  14.837784
> N       2.481849   9.405131  14.837784
> N       6.645429   9.405131  14.837784
> N      10.809008   9.405131  14.837784
> W       2.481849   2.628097  14.748648
> W       6.645429   2.628097  14.748648
> W      10.809008   2.628097  14.748648
> W       2.481849   7.121541  14.748648
> W       6.645429   7.121541  14.748648
> W      10.809008   7.121541  14.748648
> W       2.481849  -1.865347  14.748648
> W       6.645429  -1.865347  14.748648
> W      10.809008  -1.865347  14.748648
> N       0.400059   3.110895  14.468179
> N       4.563639   3.110895  14.468179
> N       8.727218   3.110895  14.468179
> N       0.400059   7.604339  14.468179
> N       4.563639   7.604339  14.468179
> N       8.727218   7.604339  14.468179
> N       0.400059  -1.382549  14.468179
> N       4.563639  -1.382549  14.468179
> N       8.727218  -1.382549  14.468179
> W       0.400059   0.783425  14.415413
> W       4.563639   0.783425  14.415413
> W       8.727218   0.783425  14.415413
> W       0.400059   5.276869  14.415413
> W       4.563639   5.276869  14.415413
> W       8.727218   5.276869  14.415413
> W       0.400059   9.770314  14.415413
> W       4.563639   9.770314  14.415413
> W       8.727218   9.770314  14.415413
> N       2.481849   3.081849  12.630078  0 0 0
> N       6.645429   3.081849  12.630078  0 0 0
> N      10.809008   3.081849  12.630078  0 0 0
> N       2.481849   7.575293  12.630078  0 0 0
> N       6.645429   7.575293  12.630078  0 0 0
> N      10.809008   7.575293  12.630078  0 0 0
> N       2.481849  -1.411595  12.630078  0 0 0
> N       6.645429  -1.411595  12.630078  0 0 0
> N      10.809008  -1.411595  12.630078  0 0 0
> W       2.481849   0.798260  12.540942  0 0 0
> W       6.645429   0.798260  12.540942  0 0 0
> W      10.809008   0.798260  12.540942  0 0 0
> W       2.481849   5.291704  12.540942  0 0 0
> W       6.645429   5.291704  12.540942  0 0 0
> W      10.809008   5.291704  12.540942  0 0 0
> W       2.481849   9.785148  12.540942  0 0 0
> W       6.645429   9.785148  12.540942  0 0 0
> W      10.809008   9.785148  12.540942  0 0 0
> N       0.400059   1.281057  12.260473  0 0 0
> N       4.563639   1.281057  12.260473  0 0 0
> N       8.727218   1.281057  12.260473  0 0 0
> N       0.400059   5.774502  12.260473  0 0 0
> N       4.563639   5.774502  12.260473  0 0 0
> N       8.727218   5.774502  12.260473  0 0 0
> N       0.400059  10.267946  12.260473  0 0 0
> N       4.563639  10.267946  12.260473  0 0 0
> N       8.727218  10.267946  12.260473  0 0 0
> W       0.400059   3.447032  12.207706  0 0 0
> W       4.563639   3.447032  12.207706  0 0 0
> W       8.727218   3.447032  12.207706  0 0 0
> W       0.400059   7.940476  12.207706  0 0 0
> W       4.563639   7.940476  12.207706  0 0 0
> W       8.727218   7.940476  12.207706  0 0 0
> W       0.400059  -1.046412  12.207706  0 0 0
> W       4.563639  -1.046412  12.207706  0 0 0
> W       8.727218  -1.046412  12.207706  0 0 0
> N       2.481849   1.252012  10.422372  0 0 0
> N       6.645429   1.252012  10.422372  0 0 0
> N      10.809008   1.252012  10.422372  0 0 0
> N       2.481849   5.745456  10.422372  0 0 0
> N       6.645429   5.745456  10.422372  0 0 0
> N      10.809008   5.745456  10.422372  0 0 0
> N       2.481849  10.238900  10.422372  0 0 0
> N       6.645429  10.238900  10.422372  0 0 0
> N      10.809008  10.238900  10.422372  0 0 0
> W       2.481849   3.461867  10.333236  0 0 0
> W       6.645429   3.461867  10.333236  0 0 0
> W      10.809008   3.461867  10.333236  0 0 0
> W       2.481849   7.955311  10.333236  0 0 0
> W       6.645429   7.955311  10.333236  0 0 0
> W      10.809008   7.955311  10.333236  0 0 0
> W       2.481849  -1.031577  10.333236  0 0 0
> W       6.645429  -1.031577  10.333236  0 0 0
> W      10.809008  -1.031577  10.333236  0 0 0
> N       0.400059   3.944664  10.052766  0 0 0
> N       4.563639   3.944664  10.052766  0 0 0
> N       8.727218   3.944664  10.052766  0 0 0
> N       0.400059   8.438108  10.052766  0 0 0
> N       4.563639   8.438108  10.052766  0 0 0
> N       8.727218   8.438108  10.052766  0 0 0
> N       0.400059  -0.548780  10.052766  0 0 0
> N       4.563639  -0.548780  10.052766  0 0 0
> N       8.727218  -0.548780  10.052766  0 0 0
> W       0.400059   1.617195  10.000000  0 0 0
> W       4.563639   1.617195  10.000000  0 0 0
> W       8.727218   1.617195  10.000000  0 0 0
> W       0.400059   6.110639  10.000000  0 0 0
> W       4.563639   6.110639  10.000000  0 0 0
> W       8.727218   6.110639  10.000000  0 0 0
> W       0.400059  10.604083  10.000000  0 0 0
> W       4.563639  10.604083  10.000000  0 0 0
> W       8.727218  10.604083  10.000000  0 0 0
> C      10.809008   2.628097  19.750000
> H      10.177000   1.997000  20.383000
> H      11.443000   1.997000  19.117000
> H      10.177000   3.263000  19.117000
> H      11.443000   3.263000  20.383000
> 
> 
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-- 
Lorenzo Paulatto - Paris


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