Feature-based crystal construction in computer-aided nano-design

Providing nanoengineers and scientists efficient and easy-to-use tools to create geometry conformations that have minimum energies is highly desirable in materials design. Recently we developed a periodic surface model to assist the construction of nanostructures parametrically for computer-aided nano-design. In this paper, we present a feature-based approach for crystal construction. The proposed approach creates models of basic features with the aid of periodic surfaces followed by operations between basic features. The goal is to introduce a rapid construction method for complex crystal structures.