July 28, 2022

Lecture-2
Course no:508

SOLID STATE
PHYSICS
Dr. Syed Rizwan Ali

DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS, UNIVERSITY OF KARACHI

Lattice + Basis = Crystal

16
Space Lattice

Primitive = P
a10 NP Non primitive = NP

a9 a8 P
a7 Lattice Vectors

P
a6
a5
unit cell
a4 NP
a2 P
a1 a3
 Lattice points are points which have identical environments.
 These can be connected to form unit cells. 17
Lattice Vectors
 Vectors Joining two lattice points are called Lattice translation
vectors.

 The smallest possible lattice vectors joining two consecutive

lattice points are called fundamental or Primitive lattice
vectors
Lattice Translational Vectors

r 6 a2
r = 4 a1 + 6 a2

4 a1

r = n1 a1 + n2 a2 r = n1 a1 + n2 a2 + n 3 a 3
Unit Cells

a10 NP

a9 a8 P
a7
A = a1 x a2
P
a6
a5
unit cell
a4 NP
a2 P
a1 a3

 More than one choice for a primitive unit cell.

An alternate method is needed !
Unit Cell: 3 dimensional lattices
The unit cell is defined as a parallelepiped, providing six lattice
parameters: lengths of the cell edges (a1, a2, a3) and the angles
between them (α, β, γ).

Volume of a parallelepiped: = . ×
 Unit Cell
 Each unit cell is defined in terms of lattice points.

 Unit cell is the smallest repeating structural-unit.

 It represents all the properties of the whole crystal.
 It has the full symmetry of the crystal structure.
Two dimensional lattices
5 lattices in 2 dimensions: BRAVIAS LATTICES
Oblique Rectangular Centered-Rectangular

Hexagonal Square
 Primitive and Conventional Cells
 Primitive unit cell = one set of basis/per unit cell.
 Lattice points are only at the corners.
 Basis associated with Primitive cell is called a
primitive basis
 Primitive unit cell does not necessarily have the same
symmetry as the lattice.
 Cell with the same symmetry as that of lattice is a
conventional unit cell. (P or NP both possible)
 Sometimes (e.g., semiconductor physics) a NP-
conventional unit cell, might be preferable to a P-unit
cell because the latter lacks certain symmetries
inherent in the crystal.
 Primitive vs. Conventional in 3D Lattices

 Is it possible to construct a primitive cell while

retaining all the symmetry of the lattice ?
Wigner-Seitz Cell
An alternate method to
construct primitive unit cell
Wigner-Seitz Cell Construction

WZ-cell for reciprocal lattice is called the

BRILLIOUN ZONE
WZ-cell in 3 dimensions
Body Centered Cubic (bcc)

(Truncated Octahedron)

END OF LECTURE 2
NOTE: We will study Body Centered Cubic (bcc) &
Face centered cubic (fcc) lattices in our next lectures.