Deep learning interatomic potential for thermal and defect behaviour of aluminum nitride with quantum accuracy

Due to its exceptional physical properties, such as high thermal conductivity and mechanical strength, AlN has been widely used in high-power, high-temperature electronic, and optoelectronic devices. Molecular dynamics simulation is a powerful tool to study its thermal and defect properties. The selection of interatomic potentials plays an important role in the accuracy of calculation results. However, molecular dynamics simulations with various interatomic potentials have yielded different results when investigating the thermal and defect properties of AlN over the last few decades. In this paper, an interatomic potential (DP-IAP) model is developed using a deep potential (DP) methodology for AlN, with the training model's datasets derived from density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The DP-IAP demonstrates quantum-level accuracy in the calculation of the mechanical properties, thermal transport properties, and the defects formation and defects migration for AlN. The developed DP model paves the way for modeling thermal transport and defect evolution in AlN-based devices.