Solid State Physics

1) C. Kittel, Introduction to Solid State Physics, 5th Ed., 1976

2) Myers H.P., Introductory Solid State Physics, (1997)

3) Title: Amorphous Solid

URL: http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9110300/amorphous-solid

4) Title: http://galileo.physics.edu/classes/252 Defects in crystals

URL: http://www.ndt-
ed.org/EducationResources/CommunityCollege/Materials/
Structure/crystal_defects.htm
http://mhsweb.ci.manchester.ct.us/Library/webquests/ atomicmodels.htm

Chapter One

By definition, solid state is that particular aggregation form of matter characterized by strong
interaction forces between constituent particles (atoms, ions, or molecules). As a result, a solid state
material has an independent geometric form (in contrast to liquids, which take the form of the
container) and an invariant volume (in contrast to gases/vapors) in given temperature and pressure
conditions. As temperature increases, a solid state material can evolve into another aggregation form
(liquid or gas).
 Solid state physics studies the structural, mechanical, thermodynamic, electrical, magnetic, and
optical properties of (poly-)crystalline and non-crystalline solids (for example, amorphous
materials, such as glass).
 Solid state physics, also known as condensed matter physics, is the study of the behavior of
atoms when they are placed in close proximity to one another, like “Crystal”. Condensed
matter physics is the field of physics that deals with the macroscopic and microscopic physical
properties of matter. In particular, it is concerned with the “condensed” phases that appear
whenever the number of constituents in a system is extremely large and the interactions
between the constituents are strong. The most familiar examples of condensed phases are solids
and liquids, which arise from the electromagnetic forces between atoms.

Solid State Physics

 - How are solids classified?

Solids are classified hierarchically according to their underlying structure.

1. Crystalline vs. amorphous

Crystalline solids have a highly regular arrangement of components,
whereas amorphous ones have considerable disorder.
(Components = atoms, molecules or ions)

2. Crystalline solids can be further classified according to their

components.
1. Atomic: these solids have atoms at their lattice points.
2. Ionic: have ions at lattice points.
3. Molecular: have molecules at their lattice points.

3. Atomic solids are either:

1. Metals
2. Solid noble gases
3. Covalent networks of atoms

Solid State Physics

  Polycrystalline materials are made up of an aggregate of many small single
crystals (also called crystallites or grains).
 Polycrystalline materials have a high degree of order over many atomic or
molecular dimensions.
 The grains are usually 100 nm - 100 microns in diameter.

Polycrystals with grains less than 10 nm in diameter are nanocrystalline

1. Crystal Structure
The crystal lattice is used to describe the lattice of a real crystal. For example, in NaCl, a lattice
point in a crystal lattice represents the position of a sodium ion or a chloride ion.

1.1 Lattice:

A lattice is a periodic array of “dots” (or lattice points). It is a mathematic

abstraction used to describe the translational symmetry of a periodic (or extended)
structure. The translational symmetry implies that the system has infinite
repetition. In reality, we have to deal with crystals with finite sizes.

Solid State Physics

Lattice parameters: constants (a, b, c) and angles
(α, β, γ).

We have three types of period systems:

One-dimensional (1-D), two-dimensional (2-D), and three-dimensional (3-D)

1.2 Unit Cell:

The simplest portion of a lattice that can be repeated by translation to cover the
entire 1-D, 2-D, or 3-D space
The primitive cell (P) only contains one lattice point.
In general, we choose the unit cell such that it will reflect the symmetry of the lattice

1.3 Two-Dimensional Lattices and Unit Cells:

We only have five different types of unit cells, four of them are primitive cells, and
the other one is centered rectangular.

Solid State Physics

1.4 Wigner-Seitz cell

A Wigner–Seitz cell is an example of another kind of primitive cell which has only
one lattice point. This Wigner-Seitz cell can be constructed as follows.
(1) Draw lines to connect a given lattice point to all nearby lattice points.
(2) At the midpoint and normal to these lines, draw new lines or planes.

Solid State Physics

 ❖ (Summary)
1. Crystal has a primitive cell.
2. Latticed point is defined in association with primitive cell.
3. There is one lattice point per primitive cell.
4. Conventional cell (or nonprimitive cell) contains more than one lattice points.

Solid State Physics

Solid State Physics
Unit cells (primitive and nonprimitive) and of the Winger- Seitz cell for a
rectangular two-dimensional lattice.

Example: graphite sheet

Q1. what is a Crystal? (or) What are crystalline materials? Give examples

Q2. What is an amorphous solid? Give example.

Q3. What is meant by Crystallography?

Q4. What is a single crystal?

Q5. What is a poly crystal? Give example.

Q6. Define; Lattice and Crystal lattice

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Q7. What are the differences between crystalline and non-crystalline materials?

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1.5 The 3D Bravais lattices
The possible 3D Bravais lattices are grouped into 7 different systems according to
their symmetry (Table 1.1)
Axial
Crystal
Possible variations distances Axial Angle Examples
structure
(edge length)
Primitive, Body
NaCl, Zinc
Cubic centered face a=b=c  =  =  = 90
Blende, Cu
centered
Tetragonal Primitive, Body
a=bc  =  =  = 90 SnO2, TiO2
centered
Primitive, Body
centered, face KNO3,
Orthorhombic abc  =  =  = 90
centered, End BaSO4
Center
 =  = 90  ,
Hexagonal Primitive a=bc ZnO, CdS
 = 120

Trigonal Primitive a=b=c  =  =   90 HgS, CaCO3

Monoclinic
Monoclinic Primitive, End  =  = 90 ,
abc Sulphur,
centered   90 
Na2SO4
CuSO4,
Triclinic Primitive abc       90
5H2O

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 CRYSTALLOGRAPHIC AXES

Refer to the axes in the order - a, b, c

The point of intersection of the three
axes is called the AXIAL CROSS.

By using these crystallographic axes we can

define six large groups or crystal systems
that all crystal forms may be placed in

 CUBIC (or ISOMETRIC) System

There are 3 Bravais lattices for the cubic system: P (simple cubic), I (body
centered), F (face centered) [Fig. 1.3].

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Question: What is the difference between crystal structure and crystal system?

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1.6 Definitions of miller indices

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 Crystallographic points, directions and planes

Question:-What is the crystal structure

of a NaCl?

In the natrium chloride (NaCl) structure,

the space lattice is face centered cubic
(FCC). There are two such FCC lattices
which are separated by one half of the
body diagonal of the unit cube.

1.7 Diffraction and reflection of X-rays

When a beam of parallel X-rays of wavelength,  is incident on planes of crystals
as shown in Fig. 2.1, the reflection of x-rays by planes in a crystal can be shown to
take place only when

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2d( hkl ) sin  = n n= 1, 2, 3,….. (1.1)

is known as Bragg’s law. d is the spacing between planes in the crystal. In general
Bragg’s reflection can only occur for wavelength  ≤ 2d. This explains why visible
light is not used. Visible light have much longer wavelengths.

Figure 2.1: Reflection of X-rays from crystal planes.

A set of layers of a crystal only reflects at a certain angle and the angle θ i.e. the
angle between the beam and the planes increases as the spacing decreases. θ is the
glancing angle. In advanced books it can be shown that the planar separation, d,
lattice parameter, a, and the Miller indices (hkl) have a relation given;
a
d hkl = (1.2)
h2 + k 2 + l 2

If a cubic unit cell has lattice parameter a = 1.20 nm, then

d221=0.4nm , d224=0.2nm

Show that the above values of, d, in 1.1 Equation is correct

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Figure 2.2: X-rays reflected from crystal planes

In Fig. 2.2, the overall path difference = 2x, where x = XY = YZ But

x
sin  =  x = d sin  path difference therefore = 2dhklsin  . Constructive
d

interference occurs when the path difference equals to an integral multiple of  .

i.e when
2dhkl sin  =n  n= 1, 2, 3,
Example 1: A beam of X-rays of wavelength 0.071 nm is diffracted by (110) plane
of rock salt with lattice constant of 0.28 nm. Find the glancing angle for the
second-order diffraction.

Given data are:

Wavelength (λ) of X-rays = 0.071 nm

Lattice constant (a) = 0.28 nm

Plane (hkl) = (110)

Order of diffraction = 2

Glancing angle θ = ?

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Bragg’s law is 2d sin θ = nλ

Substitute in Bragg’s equation

Example 2: X rays of wavelength 0.154 nm are diffracted from a crystal at an

0
angle of 14.17 . Assuming that n = 1, what is the distance (in pm) between layers
in the crystal?

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Question / why are X-rays used in crystallography?
Crystals are regular arrays of atoms, and X-rays can be considered waves of
electromagnetic radiation. X-rays are used to produce the diffraction pattern
because their wavelength λ is typically the same order of magnitude (1–100
angstroms) as the spacing d between planes in the crystal.

1.8 Crystal Defects

A perfect crystal, with every atom of the same type in the correct position, does not
exist. All crystals have some defects. Defects contribute to the mechanical
properties of metals. In fact, using the term “defect” is sort of a misnomer since
these features are commonly intentionally used to manipulate the mechanical
properties of a material. Adding alloying elements to a metal is one way of

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introducing a crystal defect. Nevertheless, the term “defect” will be used, just keep
in mind that crystalline defects are not always bad. There are basic classes of
crystal defects:

 point defects, which are places where an atom is missing or irregularly

placed in the lattice structure. Point defects
include lattice vacancies, self-interstitial
atoms, substitution impurity atoms, and
interstitial impurity atoms

 linear defects, which are groups of

atoms in irregular positions. Linear
defects are commonly called
dislocations.

 planar defects, which are interfaces between homogeneous regions of the

material. Planar defects include grain
boundaries, stacking faults and
external surfaces.

It is important to note at this point that plastic deformation in a material occurs due
to the movement of dislocations (linear defects). Millions of dislocations result for
plastic forming operations such as rolling and extruding. It is also important to note
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that any defect in the regular lattice structure disrupts the motion of dislocation,
which makes slip or plastic deformation more difficult. These defects not only
include the point and planer defects mentioned above, and also other dislocations.
Dislocation movement produces additional dislocations, and when dislocations run
into each other it often impedes movement of the dislocations. This drives up the
force needed to move the dislocation or, in other words, strengthens the material.
Each of the crystal defects will be discussed in more detail in the following pages.

1.9 Bonding of energy

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Link
Miller indices (Cambridge University)
http://www.doitpoms.ac.uk/tlplib/miller_indices/index.php
Crystal lattice structures
http://cst-www.nrl.navy.mil/lattice/
Crystal structures, Ratable 3D models
http://neubert.net/Crystals/CRYStruc.html
Questions

1) What is the crystal structure of a diamond?

2) What is the properties of covalent bond?

3) Draw an FCC and a BCC unit cell

4) What are X-Rays? Why do we use x-rays to examine crystal structures?

5) What types of crystals are there?

6) A beam of X-ray of wavelength 0.25 nm is incident on a crystal of interplanal-
separation 0.30 nm. Calculate the glancing angle for first order diffraction.

7) A beam of X-rays of wavelength 0.071 nm is diffracted by (110) plane of

rock salt with lattice constant of 0.28 nm. Find the glancing angle for the
second-order diffraction.

8) A beam of electrons with kinetic energy 1 keV is diffracted as it passes

through a polycrystalline metal foil. The metal has a cubic crystal structure

with a spacing of 1 A0. Given m, q, h, c,

(a) Calculate the wavelength of the electrons,

(b) Calculate the Bragg angle for the first order diffraction maximum.

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 9) X rays of wavelength 0.154 nm are diffracted from a crystal at an angle of
0
14.17 . Assuming that n = 1, what is the distance (in pm) between layers in
the crystal?

10) Figure shows hypothetical two dimensions crystal consisting of atoms arranged
on a square grid.

1) Show an Example of a primitive unit cell.

2) Define (the reciprocal lattice) and explain its relation to Bragg reflection.

3) Show the reciprocal lattice and the first Brillouin zone

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