1- What is the basic difference between doping and substitution/replacement?

Answer-1: As far as I understood doping, it means that a small amount of an element is

mixed in a chemical compound. This might replace some atoms existing in this phase but
it does not have to. It can also sit in interstitials or between atom layers, molecules etc.
Doping practically always exists since you can never exclude some kind of
contamination. However, the term doping is only used if a certain property changes
considerably, i.e. the electronic property. Otherwise it is called impurity.
Replacement/substitution is a crystallographic term and means that you exchange an
element by another one on a certain atomic position. For instance, in magnetite you have
different Fe-position (2+ and 3+) which are described by different atomic positions. A
replacement/substitution of Fe3+ will only affect the Fe3+-position but not the other
one.

Answer-2: Doping comes from the semiconductors science. In this case, very small
quantities allow modifying significantly the electrical properties. Usually the dopant
comes in substitution to another atom. B or P for instance to substitute Si in silicon.
Substitution is the word used when replacing one element by another one at levels
reaching several %.
We sometimes teach to student that they should say "susbtitution" instead of doping
when dealing with high doping/substitution rate BUT the word doping is now so widely
used in the scientific community that it does not really matter.
I should add that by extension we also employ "acceptor doping" and "donor doping" in
oxides even if the result is sometimes very different from what is observed in
semiconductors. The compensating charge might be for instance an oxygen vacancy (in
case of acceptor doping) in oxides.

Answer-3: substitution is an atomic interchange, and for stable structure you need change
atoms no more than +- 15% of difference in their ionic radius (according to Prewitt and
Shanon effective ionic radius) doping could be a substitution or an interstitial doping or
both.

Answer-4: Doping and Substitution are completely different terms.

1. Doping means a very small number of additives used for modification. Sometime
MnO2 or Mn2O3 are used in bismuth ferrite based materils to modify certian properties,
so in formula, it can be written as
SrFeO3+xMnO2 or Mn2O3.
2. While substitution is the replacement of one constituent on the other which can be
written as
Bi(1-x)SmxFeO3 or SrTi(1-x)FexO3 actually it is a trend that the element which is
substituted written after that which is substituted.
3. A solid solution is actually the replacement of one unit cell on the other. In material
engineering when one Perovskite unit cell is replaced by the other one is called solid
solution. The solid solution may be binary, ternary or quarternary. In formula it can be
written (1-x)BiFeO3-xBaTiO3, in case of ternary like
(1-y){(1-x)BiFeO3-xBaTiO3}-ySmFeO3 and so on.

2- What is an alloy and how are alloys considered as solid solutions?

Answer-1: An alloy is a homogeneous mixture of a metal with other metals or with non-
metals that are fused together. Alloys can be considered as solid solutions as metal with
high concentration is the solvent and the metal with low concentration is the solute. For
example, brass is an alloy of zinc (solute) in copper(solvent).

3- What is the difference between alloy and solid solution?

Answer-1: The boundaries are a bit floating. Solid solutions might be the more general category,
where alloys can be more specific related to crystalline micro-structure, where some inter-
metallic phases have specific stoichiometry and crystal structure, see also
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alloy

Answer-2: Dear all, If i may add my basic understanding. Solid solution is an ability of an atom to
penetrate and find his place in a crystal lattice. All substances that we have on Earth are,
basically, solid solutions because we can never get rid of impurities. Solid solution can be used to
change the properties that we need. It can achieved by diffusion without melting (long time).
Diffusion accelerates mutual penetration with heat nearly 0.5 - 0.7 of melting T. That is how we
achieve reasonable level of penetration in thin surface layers (the diffusion welding was
developed in USSR in 1953). Environmental corrosion is a good example of solid solutions
formation, but this is not an alloy. And the process is not uniform as it goes mostly near the
surface. Diffusion is faster in liquids, larger volumes can be mixed. That is why we need alloying.
It goes via liquefaction. Alloy is a result of liquefaction, mixing and solidification of some
chemical elements together. A uniform crystal or several phases with limited possible
concentrations are formed (as already mentioned above) - each of the new alloy component can
be referred to as a solid solution.