(a) Force vs.

interatomic separation
(b) Energy vs. interatomic separation
From Principles of Electronic Materials and Devices, Third Edition, S.O. Kasap (© McGraw-Hill, 2005)

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 1.8.1: Ideal Crystal
• A crystalline solid is a solid in which the atoms bond with
each other in a regular pattern to form a periodic collection
(or array) of atom.
• The most important property of a crystal is periodicity which
leads to what is termed as long range order.
• An ideal crystal is a periodic array of structural units, such
as atoms or molecules.
• It can be constructed by the infinite repetition of these
identical structural units in space.
• Structure can be described in terms of a lattice, with a group
of atoms attached to each lattice point. The group of atoms is
the basis.

The unit cell is the most convenient small cell in the crystal
structure that carries the properties of the crystal.

The repetition of the unit cell in three dimensions generates the

whole crystal structure,

From Principles of Electronic Materials and Devices, Third Edition, S.O. Kasap (© McGraw-Hill, 2005)

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From Principles of Electronic Materials and Devices, Third Edition, S.O. Kasap (© McGraw-Hill, 2005)

Face Centered Cubic

From Principles of Electronic Materials and Devices, Third Edition, S.O. Kasap (© McGraw-Hill, 2005)

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From Principles of Electronic Materials and Devices, Third Edition, S.O. Kasap (© McGraw-Hill, 2005)

Effectively, 4 atoms in in this unit cell.

a = 0.362 nm and R = 0.128 nm (Cu)

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From Principles of Electronic Materials and Devices, Third Edition, S.O. Kasap (© McGraw-Hill, 2005)

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• Covalently bonded solids, such as Si and Ge, have a diamond crystal
structure.

• Can be described in terms of an FCC lattice : Each lattice point having a

basis of two Si atoms. If we place the two Si atoms at each site appropriately,
for example, one right at the lattice point, and the other displaced from it by a
quarter lattice distance a /4 along the cube edges, we can easily generate the
diamond unit cell.

• Eight atoms effectively

The zinc blende unit cell can also be described in terms of a fundamental
FCC.
Lattice and a basis that has two atoms, Zn and S (or Ga and As).
For example, we can place one Zn at each lattice point and one S atom
displaced from the Zn by a /4 along the cube edges.

 GaAs Crystal

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• The FCC crystal structure of Cu is known as a close-packed
crystal structure because the Cu atoms are packed as closely as
possible.

• The volume of the FCC unit cell is 74 percent full of atoms,

which is the maxi-mum packing possible with identical spheres.

• BCC unit cell has one atoms at its comers and one atom at the
center of the cell.

•The volume of the BCC unit cell is 68 percent full of atoms,

which is lower than the maximum possible packing.

•HCP crystal structure is 74 percent, which is the same as that in

the FCC structure
From Principles of Electronic Materials and Devices, Third Edition, S.O. Kasap (© McGraw-Hill, 2005)

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From Principles of Electronic Materials and Devices, Third Edition, S.O. Kasap (© McGraw-Hill, 2005)

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