Unit Cell in Two Dimensional And

Three Dimensional Lattices

The regular three-dimensional arrangement of atoms or ions in a crystal

is usually described in terms of a space lattice and a unit cell. To see
what these two terms mean, let us first consider the two-dimensional

. We
can think of each of these three structures as a large number of
repetitions in two directions of the parallel-sided figure shown
immediately below each pattern.

This parallel-sided figure is the unit cell. It represents the simplest,

smallest shape from which the overall structure can be constructed. The
pattern of points made by the comers of the unit cells when they are
packed together is called the space lattice. The lines joining the points
of the space lattice are shown in color. Without some experience, it is
quite easy to pick the wrong unit cell for a given structure. Some
incorrect choices are shown immediately below the correct choice in
the figure. Note in particular that the unit cell for structure b, in which
each circle is surrounded by six others at the comers of a hexagon, is
not a hexagon, but a parallelogram of equal sides (a rhombus) with
angles of 60 and 120°.
This is the same structure that was shown for lithium hydride, except
that the sizes of the ions are different. A unit cell for this structure is a
cube whose comers are all occupied by sodium ions. Alternatively, the
unit cell could be chosen with chloride ions at the comers.

The unit cell of sodium chloride contains four sodium ions and four
chloride ions. In arriving at such an answer we must bear in mind that
many of the ions are shared by several adjacent cells (part c of Figure
10.3.2 shows this well). Specifically, the sodium ions at the centers of
the square faces of the cell are shared by two cells, so that only half of
each lies within the unit cell. Since there are six faces to a cube, this
makes a total of three sodium ions. In the middle of each edge of the
unit cell is a chloride ion which is shared by four adjacent cells and so
counts one-quarter. Since there are twelve edges, this makes three
chloride ions. At each comer of the cube, a sodium ion is shared by
eight other cells. Since there are eight comers, this totals to one more
sodium ion. Finally, there is a chloride ion in the body of the cube
unshared by any other cell. The grand total is thus four sodium and four
chloride ions.

Parameters of a unit cell:

• One unit cell is described by 6 parameters. These parameters are
defined as the three edges, namely a, b, and c; and the angles
between them are named as α, β, and γ.
 • Alongside the edges, dimensions of the unit cell are characterized
by a, b, and c.
• Unit cell’s edges are having or not having the possibility of being
mutually perpendicular
• The angle created between edges b and c, are given by “α”,
whereas, between c and a by “β”, “γ” is the representation of
angle between edges a and b.

Types of Unit Cell:

Basically, 2 unit cells types are present called, the Centred and
Primitive Unit Cells
Primitive Unit Cells: When unit cells’ particles find themselves on the
corners only, then it is referred to as the primitive unit cells.
Centred Unit Cells: When these unit cell’s particles are having their
presence at different positions, likewise to those present at unit cell’s
corner, then it’s referred to as the Centred Unit Cell.

There are three types of Centred Unit Cell

1. Body Centred Unit Cells
2. Face-Centred Unit Cells
3. End-Centred Unit Cell
In general 7 types of unit cells are formed. They take shape in the form
of Cubic, Hexagonal, Tetragonal, Monoclinic, Orthorhombic, Trigonal
or Rhombohedral or Triclinic.
A common formula which is presented for N counting, from the
arguments, and the ‘n’ number of ions or atoms present in a unit cell
are given by:
N=Nbody + Nface2 + Nedge4 + Ncorner8
Characteristics of crystal lattice:
• Each of the constituent particles in a crystal lattice is depicted by
a single point
• Those single points are called the lattice site or the lattice point
• In a crystal lattice, the lattice points are together joined by straight
lines
• Crystal lattice’s geometry is formed by joining lattice points with
the help of straight lines
When you think of three structures individually with a extensive
number of repetitions in 2 directions appropriate to parallel-sided figure
which is instantly shown below every pattern.

There are two special cases of the unit cell: the primitive cell and the
conventional cell. The primitive cell is a unit cell corresponding to a
single lattice point, it is the smallest possible unit cell. In some cases,
the full symmetry of a crystal structure is not obvious from the
primitive cell, in which cases a conventional cell may be used. A
conventional cell (which may or may not be primitive) is a unit cell
with the full symmetry of the lattice and may include more than one
lattice point. The conventional unit cells are parallelotope in n
dimensions.

Primitive Cell:

A primitive cell is a unit cell that contains exactly one lattice point. For
unit cells generally, lattice points that are shared by n cells are counted
as 1/n of the lattice points contained in each of those cells; so for
example a primitive unit cell in three dimensions which has lattice
points only at its eight vertices is considered to contain 1/8 of each of
them. An alternative conceptualization is to consistently pick only one
of the n lattice points to belong to the given unit cell (so the other 1-
n lattice points belong to adjacent unit cells)

Conventional Cell:

For each particular lattice, a conventional cell has been chosen on a

case-by-case basis by crystallographers based on convenience of
calculation. These conventional cells may have additional lattice
points located in the middle of the faces or body of the unit cell. The
number of lattice points, as well as the volume, of the conventional
cell is an integer multiple (1, 2, 3, or 4) of that of the primitive cell.
For any 2-dimensional lattice, the unit cells are parallelograms, which
in special cases may have orthogonal angles, or equal lengths, or both.
Four of the five two-dimensional Bravais lattices are represented
using conventional primitive cells.

For any 3-dimensional lattice, the conventional unit cells are

parallelepipeds, which in special cases may have orthogonal angles,
or equal lengths, or both. Seven of the fourteen three-dimensional
Bravais lattices are represented using conventional primitive cells.