Three-body potentials¶

Three-body potentials add an explicit angular term to a pair interaction: the energy of each triplet of atoms depends on the angle between its two bonds. They are well suited to covalent materials, where the bond angles control the crystal structure. (EAM and MEAM are also many-body, but they act through a local density rather than explicit bond angles.)

• Stillinger-Weber: two-body plus three-body angular potential, for tetrahedral semiconductors such as Si and GaN. Supports several species.