  We present a new technique aimed at preventing plane-wave based total energy
and stress calculations from the effect of abrupt changes in basis set size.
This s cheme relies on the interpolation of energy as a function of the number
of plane waves, and on a scaling hypothesis that allows to perform the
interpolation for a unique reference volume. From a theoretical point of view,
the new method is compared to those already pr oposed in the literature, and
its more rigorous derivation is emphasized. From a practical point of view, we
illustrate the importance of the correction o n different materials (Si,
BaTiO3, and He) corresponding to different types of b onding, and to different
k-point samplings and cut-off energies. Then, we compare the different
approaches for the calculation of the lattice par ameter, the bulk modulus, and
its derivative versus pressure in bulk silicon.
