Metallic Beta-Phase Silicon Nanowires: Structure and Electronic Properties

Electronic band structure and energetic stability of two types of $<110>$ and $<001>$ oriented silicon nanowires in $\beta$-Sn phase with the surface terminated by hydrogen atoms were studied using density functional theory. It was found that $\beta$-Sn nanowires are metastable with zero band gap against to nanowires in diamond phase. The relative energy of the studied wires tends to the energy of the bulk silicon crystal in $\beta$-Sn phase.