An adaptive preconditioning scheme for the self-consistent field iteration and generalized stacking-fault energy calculations

Abstract: The generalized stacking-fault energy (GSFE) is the fundamental but key parameter for the plastic deformation of materials. We perform first-principles calculations by full-potential linearized augmented planewave (FLAPW) method to evaluate the GSFE based on the single-shift and triple-shift supercell models. Different degrees of defects are introduced in the two models, thereby affecting the convergence of the self-consistent field (SCF) iterations. We present an adaptive preconditioning scheme which can identify the long-wavelength divergence behavior of the Jacobian during the SCF iteration and automatically switch on the Kerker preconditioning to accelerate the convergence. We implement this algorithm in Elk-7.2.42 package and calculate the GSFE curves for Al, Cu, and Si (111) plane <-1-12> direction. We found that the single-shift and triple-shift supercell models have equivalent calculation accuracy and are within the experimental data uncertainty. For computational efficiency, the triple-shift supercell model is preferable due to its better convergence, exhibiting lower degree of defect compared to the single-shift supercell model.