  We investigate the elastic properties of selected zincblende III-V
semiconductors. Using hybrid functional density functional theory we calculate
the second and third order elastic constants, and first and second-order
internal strain tensor components for Ga, In and Al containing III-V compounds.
For many of these parameters, there are no available experimental measurements,
and this work is the first to predict their values. The stricter convergence
criteria for the calculation of higher order elastic constants are
demonstrated, and arguments are made based on this for extracting these
constants via the calculated stresses, rather than the energies, in the context
of plane-wave-based calculations. The calculated elastic properties are used to
determine the strain regime at which higher order elasticity becomes important
by comparing the stresses predicted by a lower and a higher order elasticity
theory. Finally, the results are compared with available experimental
literature data and previous theory.

Computational Physics;Materials Science