Defect in crystals
A defect in solid is any deviation from periodicity in the solid or, a
discontinuity in a crystal lattice. The defects influence the
properties of the solid in the following different ways:
The defect may scatter conduction electrons in a metal,
increasing its electrical resistance by several percent in many
pure metals and much more in alloys.
Some defects decrease the strength of the crystals.
Pure salts having impurities and imperfection are often colored.
Dr. M M Hossain 1
Classification of defect
Point defects (Zero dimensional defects)
• Vacancy
• Interstitial atom
• Frankel defects
• Substitutional impurity atom
• Schottky defects
Line defects (One dimensional defects)
• Edge dislocation
• Screw dislocation
Plane defects (Two dimensional defects)
• Lineage boundary
• Grain boundary
• Stacking fault
Electronic imperfections
Excitation states of crystals
Transient imperfection
Dr. M M Hossain 2
Dr. M M Hossain 3
Point defect
If the deviation from regularities is confined to a very small region
of only about a few lattice constants, it is called a point defect. We
have the following types of point defects:
(a) Vacancy:
The simplest point defect is a vacancy.
This refers to an empty (unoccupied)
site of a crystal lattice, i.e. a missing
atom or vacant atomic site such
defects may arise either from
imperfect packing during original
crystallization or from thermal energy
due to vibration is increased, there is
always an increased probability that
individual atom will jump out of their
positions of lowest energy. Dr. M M Hossain 4
(b) Interstitial atom (Huckle defect):
In this case there is a presence of an extra atom somewhere in the
interstice of the lattice but not on regular lattice sites.
Dr. M M Hossain 5
(d) Substitutional impurity atom:
The presence of a foreign atom in the lattice. It may be present at at
any substitutional position, i.e., in place of any regular lattice site. In
this type of defect, the atom which replaces the parent atom may be
of same size or slightly smaller or greater than that of the parent
atom.
Dr. M M Hossain 6
(e) Schottky defect:
These imperfections are similar to vacancies. This defect is caused,
whenever a pair of positive and negative ions is missing from a
crystal. This type of imperfection maintains charge neutrality. In
this type, anions and cations are taken away from their correct
position and are placed them on surface in equal numbers.
Dr. M M Hossain 7
Frenkel defect
A Frenkel defect or
dislocation defect is a type
of defect in crystalline
solids where in an atom is
displaced from its lattice
position to an interstitial
site, creating a vacancy at
the original site and an
interstitial defect at the
new location without any
changes in chemical
properties.
Dr. M M Hossain 9
Line Defect
Dislocations are another type of defect in crystals. Dislocations
are areas where the atoms are out of position in the crystal
structure. Dislocations move under applied stresses, and thus
cause plastic deformation in solids.
Edge dislocation
The edge dislocation, shown above can be easily visualized as an
extra half plane of atoms in a lattice. The dislocation is called a
line defect because the locus of defective points produced in the
lattice by the dislocation lie along a line. This line runs along the
top of the extra half-plane. The inter-atomic bonds are significantly
distorted only in the immediate vicinity of the dislocation line. In a
sketch/drawing an edge dislocation is represented as a T or
inverted T.
Dr. M M Hossain 10
Dr. M M Hossain 11
Screw dislocation
The screw dislocation is slightly more difficult to visualize. The
motion of a screw dislocation is also a result of shear stress, but the
defect line movement is perpendicular to direction of the stress and
the atom displacement, rather than parallel. The screw dislocation is
parallel to the direction in which the crystal is being displaced
(Burgers vector is parallel to the dislocation line).
Dr. M M Hossain 12
Plane Defect
(a) Grain Boundary
A Grain Boundary is a general
planar defect that separates
regions of different crystalline
orientation (i.e. grains) within a
polycrystalline solid. The atoms in
the grain boundary will not be in
perfect crystalline arrangement.
Grain boundaries are usually the
result of uneven growth when the
solid is crystallising. Grain sizes
vary from 1 nm to 1 mm.
Dr. M M Hossain 13
Co0.5Zn0.5YxFe(2-x)O4
Dr. M M Hossain 14
(b) Staking faults
Staking faults are defects in the ‘stacking’
of atomic layers most commonly a fault in
the stacking sequence of the layers, a
missing layer or an added layer, either of
the same type or of a different type with
respect to the bulk layers. Unsurprisingly,
stacking faults are common in layered
structures, but are also encountered in
isotropic structures: in fact, perhaps the best
known type of stacking fault occurs in FCC
metals, and is a fault of
the ...ABCABCABC... stacking sequence
of the (111) layers, as, for example,
in ...ABCABABCABC... Stacking faults.
Dr. M M Hossain 15
(c) Lineage boundary
It is a boundary between two adjacent perfect regions in the
same crystal which are slightly tilted with respect to each other.
Ideal crystal Crystal with
lineage boundary
Dr. M M Hossain 16
Electronic imperfection
Errors in charge distribution or energy in solids are called
electronic defects. These are defects on a sub-atomic scale which
are responsible for important electrical and magnetic properties.
Dr. M M Hossain 17
Excitation states of crystals
Excitation states are quantized things. These are imperfections as
these cause deviations from perfect crystal summary. Some
examples are;
i) Phonons and Magnons which are quantized lattice vibration
and spin waves respectively.
ii) Conduction electrons and holes which are excited thermally
from filled bands or impurity levels.
iii) Excitons which are quantized electron-hole pairs.
iv) Quantized plasma waves.
Dr. M M Hossain 18
Transient imperfection
These imperfections are introduce into the crystal from external
sources. e.g.,
i) Photons which are ordinary quantized e.m. waves.
ii) High energy charged particles like, electrons, protons, mesons
and ions.
iii) High energy uncharged particles such as neutrons and neutral
atoms. These imperfections are used in experimental work.
Dr. M M Hossain 19
Point defect at a glance
Dr. M M Hossain 20
