Optimization of large amorphous silicon and silica structures for molecular dynamics simulations of energetic impacts

A practical method to create optimized amorphous silicon and silica structures for molecular dynamics simulations is developed and tested. The method is based on the Wooten, Winer, and Weaire algorithm and combination of small optimized blocks to larger structures. The method makes possible to perform simulations of either very large cluster hypervelocity impacts on amorphous targets or small displacements induced by low energy ion impacts in silicon.