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Notes_01a SSP1

Chapter 1 discusses the various phases of matter, focusing on solids and their crystal structures. It outlines the characteristics of gases, liquids, and solids, explaining the differences between crystalline, polycrystalline, and amorphous solids. The chapter also introduces key concepts in crystallography, including unit cells, lattice structures, and the importance of symmetry in determining the properties of crystals.

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Umair Khan
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3 views

Notes_01a SSP1

Chapter 1 discusses the various phases of matter, focusing on solids and their crystal structures. It outlines the characteristics of gases, liquids, and solids, explaining the differences between crystalline, polycrystalline, and amorphous solids. The chapter also introduces key concepts in crystallography, including unit cells, lattice structures, and the importance of symmetry in determining the properties of crystals.

Uploaded by

Umair Khan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Chapter 1:

Crystal Structure
The (Common) Phases of Matter

Matter

LIQUIDS
GASES and LIQUID SOLIDS
CRYSTALS

This doesn’t include


Plasmas, but these are
the “common” phases!!
“Condensed Matter” includes
both of these. We’ll focus on Solids!
Gases
• Gases have atoms or molecules that do not bond to one
another in a range of pressure, temperature & volume.
• These molecules haven’t any particular order &
move freely within a container.
Liquids & Liquid Crystals
• Similar to gases, Liquids have no atomic/molecular
order & they assume the shape of their containers.
• Applying low levels of thermal energy can easily
break the existing weak bonds.

• Liquid Crystals have mobile


molecules, but a type of long range
order can exist; the molecules have
a permanent dipole. Applying an
electric field rotates the dipole &
establishes order within the
collection of molecules.
4
Solids
• Solids consist of atoms or molecules undergoing
thermal motion about their equilibrium positions,
which are at fixed points in space.
• Solids can be crystalline, polycrystalline, or amorphous.

• Solids (at a given temperature, pressure, volume) have


stronger interatomic bonds than liquids.
• So, Solids require more energy to break the
interatomic bonds than liquids.
Crystal Structure
Topics
1. Periodic Arrays of Atoms
2. Fundamental Types of Lattices
3. Index System for Crystal Planes
4. Simple Crystal Structures
5. Direct Imaging of Crystal Structure
6. Non-ideal Crystal Structures
7. Crystal Structure Data
Objectives
At the end of this Chapter, you should:
1. Be able to identify a unit cell in a symmetrical pattern.
2. Know that (in 3 dimensions) there are
7 (& ONLY 7!!) Possible
unit cell shapes.

3. Be able to define cubic, tetragonal, orthorhombic &


hexagonal unit cell shapes
Periodic Arrays of Atoms
Experimental Evidence of periodic structures. (See Kittel, Fig. 1.)

The external appearance of crystals gives some clues to this. Fig. 1 shows
that when a crystal is cleaved, we can see that it is built up of identical
“building blocks”. Further, the early crystallographers noted that the index
numbers that define plane orientations are exact integers.

Cleaving a Crystal
Elementary Crystallography
Solıd Materıal Types

Crystallıne Polycrystallıne Amorphous


(Non-Crystalline)
Single Crystal
The Three General Types of Solids
Single Crystal
Polycrystalline
Amorphous

Each type is characterized by the size of


the ordered region within the material.

An ordered region is a spatial volume in which atoms or


molecules have a regular geometric arrangement or periodicity.
Crystalline Solids
• A Crystalline Solid is the solid form of a substance
in which the atoms or molecules are arranged in a
definite, repeating pattern in three dimensions.
• Single Crystals, ideally have a high degree of
order, or regular geometric periodicity, throughout the
entire volume of the material.
• A Single Crystal has an atomic structure that repeats
periodically across its whole volume. Even at infinite
length scales, each atom is related to every other
equivalent atom in the structure by translational symmetry.

Single Crystals
Single Pyrite Amorphous
Crystal Solid
Polycrystalline Solids
• A Polycrystalline Solid is made up of an aggregate of many small
single crystals (crystallites or grains). Polycrystalline materials have a
high degree of order over many atomic or molecular dimensions.
These ordered regions, or single crystal regions, vary in size &
orientation with respect to one another. These regions are called grains (or
domains) & are separated from one another by grain boundaries.
• The atomic order can vary from one domain to the next. The grains are
usually 100 nm - 100 microns in diameter. Polycrystals with grains that
are < 10 nm in diameter are called nanocrystallites.

Polycrystalline
Pyrite
Grain
Amorphous Solids
• Amorphous (Non-crystalline) Solids are composed of
randomly orientated atoms, ions, or molecules that do not form
defined patterns or lattice structures. Amorphous materials have
order only within a few atomic or molecular dimensions. They
do not have any long-range order, but they have varying degrees
of short-range order. Examples of amorphous material include
amorphous silicon, plastics, & glasses.
Departures From the “Perfect Crystal”
• A “Perfect Crystal” is an idealization that does not exist
in nature. In some ways, even a crystal surface is an
imperfection, because the periodicity is interrupted there.
• Each atom undergoes thermal vibrations around their
equilibrium positions for temperatures T > 0K. These can also
be viewed as “imperfections”.

• Also, Real Crystals always


have foreign atoms (impurities),
missing atoms (vacancies), &
atoms in between lattice sites
(interstitials) where they should
not be. Each of these spoils the
perfect crystal structure.
Crystallography
Crystallography ≡ The branch of science that deals with the
geometric description of crystals & their internal arrangements. It is
the science of crystals & the math used to describe them. It is a
VERY OLD field which pre-dates Solid State Physics by
about a century! So (unfortunately, in some ways) much of the terminology
(& theory notation) of Solid State Physics originated in crystallography. The
purpose of Ch. 1 of Kittel’s book is mainly to introduce this terminology to you.
Solid State Physics
Started in the early 20th Century when the fact that
Crystals Can Diffract X-rays
was discovered.
• This was around the same time that the new theory of
Quantum Mechanics
was being accepted & applied to various problems.
Some of the early problems it was applied to were the
explanation of observed X-ray diffraction patterns for
various crystals & (later) the behavior of electrons in a
crystalline solid.
Crystallography
A Basic Knowledge of Elementary
Crystallography is Essential
for Solid State Physicists!!!
• A crystal’s symmetry has a profound influence on
many of its properties.
• A crystal structure should be specified completely,
concisely & unambiguously.
• Structures are classified into different types
according to the symmetries they possess.
• In this course, we only consider solids with “simple” structures.
Crystal Lattice
Crystallography focuses on the geometric properties of crystals. So, we imagine
each atom replaced by a mathematical point at the equilibrium position of that
atom. A Crystal Lattice (or a Crystal) ≡ An idealized description of the
geometry of a crystalline material. A Crystal ≡ A 3-dimensional periodic
array of atoms. Usually, we’ll only consider ideal crystals. “Ideal” means
one with no defects, as already mentioned. That is, no missing atoms, no atoms off
of the lattice sites where we expect them to be, no impurities,…Clearly, such an
ideal crystal never occurs in nature. Yet, 85-90% of experimental observations
on crystalline materials is accounted for by considering only ideal crystals!

Platinum Platinum Surface Crystal Lattice &


(Scanning Tunneling Microscope) Structure of Platinum
Crystal Lattice
Mathematically 2 Dimensional Example
↓
A Lattice is Defined y ↓
as an Infinite Array
B C D E
of Points in Space b α

in which each point has O a A x

identical surroundings
to all others. The points
are arranged exactly in
a periodic manner.

20
Ideal Crystal ≡
An infinite periodic repetition of identical
structural units in space.
• The simplest structural unit we can imagine is a
Single Atom. This corresponds to a solid made up
of only one kind of atom ≡ An Elemental Solid.
• However, this structural unit could also be a
group of several atoms or even molecules.
The simplest structural unit for a given solid is called the
BASIS
• The structure of an Ideal Crystal can be described in
terms of a mathematical construction called a Lattice.
A Lattice ≡
• A 3-dimensional periodic array of points in space. For a
particular solid, the smallest structural unit, which when
repeated for every point in the lattice is called the Basis.
• The Crystal Structure is defined once both the lattice
& the basis are specified. That is
Crystal Structure
≡ Lattice + Basis
Crystalline Periodicity
• In a crystalline material, the equilibrium positions of
all the atoms form a crystal
Crystal Structure ≡ Lattice + Basis
For example, see Fig. 2.

Lattice →

Basis →

← Crystal
Structure
Crystalline Periodicity
Crystal Structure ≡ Lattice + Basis
For another example, see the figure.

Crystal Structure
Lattice ↓
↓ Basis
↓
Crystalline Periodicity
Crystal Structure ≡ Lattice + Basis
Another example.
Basis
 Crystal Structure
↓ 
↓

Lattice →
A Two-Dimensional Bravais Lattice with
Different Choices for the Basis
2 Dimensional Lattice
Lattice with atoms at corners of regular hexagons
y

y B C D E
b α
B C D
E O a A x
b F G
x H
O a A

27
The atoms do not necessarily lie at lattice points!!
Crystal Structure = Lattice + Basis

Basis
↓

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