Mechanical response of SiC sheet under strain

Abstract

The effect of biaxial strain on crystallographic structure, band gap, polarization, linear and non linear elastic properties of 2D SiC hybrid are studied using ab-initio calculations. The determination of the two critical strain points reveals an elastic region just a little smaller than that of graphene. With load, charge distributions vary and electronic states CBM and VBM undergo a location change. Consequently, enlarging strain reduces the band gap monotonically leading to a semiconductor–metal transition. Debye temperature 407.81K intermediates between the ones of silicene and germanene. Planar SiC shows a piezoelectric response comparable to 2D buckled compounds materials. The negative sign of the effective non linear modulus reveals an hyperelastic softening behavior of SiC. Under pressure, second order elastic constants show a small anisotropie. The results show that tailoring physical properties of SiC under strain reveals its great potential in the electronic and mechanical devices.