BPT 602 Solid State Physics

Instructor: Dr. Jayeeta Lahiri

Assistant Professor
Department of Physics
Banaras Hindu University

19.02.2022
Topics in Crystalline State
• Lattice, Basis, Translational vectors
• Symmetries in crystalline lattices,
• Primitive unit cell,
• Different types of lattices-2D and 3D (Bravais lattices)
• Miller indices,
• Inter-planer distances, SC, BCC and FCC structures,
• Packing fraction,
• Crystal structures-NaCl, diamond, CsCl, ZnS,

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 Bravais Lattice in 3D
• A 2D lattice is spanned by two lattice vector , and .
• There are 14 different Bravais lattices in 3D that are
classified into 7 different crystal systems (only the unit
cells are shown below)
• Cubic system has the greatest degree of symmetry.
• Triclinic system has the least symmetry.

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5
Cubic Bravais Lattice

Examples
SC Po
BCC Na, K, V, Cr, Fe, Rb, Nb, Mo, Cs, Ba, Eu, Ta
FCC Al, Cu, Ni, Sr, Rh, Pd, Ag, Ce, Tb, Ir, Pt, Au, Pb, Th
Hexagonal Graphite, BN 6
 Primitive Unit cell

• Conventional Cell is the cube 7

 Simple Cubic (SC) Body centered cubic Face centered cubic
(BCC) (FCC)
Volume of conventional unit a3 a3 a3
cell
No. of lattice points in 1 1 1 1
conventional unit cell 8× +1=2 8× +6× =4
8 8 2
Fractional Coordinates SC and SC and
Position 𝑙𝑎, 𝑚𝑎, 𝑛𝑎 (000),(100),(010),(001), 1 1 1 , ,0 , , 0, , 0, , ,
, ,
Fractional 𝑙, 𝑚, 𝑛 (110),(101),(011),(111) 2 2 2
, ,1 , , 1, , 1, , ,

Volume of Primitive unit cell

# of 1NN’s 6 8 12
Distance of 1NN’s 𝑎 3 𝑎
𝑎
2 2
Fractional Coordinates ±1,0,0 , 0, ±1,0 , 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
± ,± ,± ± , ± , 0 , ± , 0, ± ,
of 1NNs w.r.t (0,0,0) site 0,0, ±1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
1 1
0, ± , ±
2 2

# of 2NN’s 12 6 6
Distance of 2NN’s 2𝑎 𝑎 𝑎
Fractional Coordinates ±1, ±1,0 , 0, ±1, ±1 , ±1,0,0 , 0, ±1,0 , ±1,0,0 , 0, ±1,0 ,
of 2NNs w.r.t (0,0,0) site ±1,0, ±1 0,0, ±1 0,0, ±1
In the fcc structure each atom has c1=12 first nearest neighbours (coordination
number) at a distance of

https://www.physics-in-a-nutshell.com/article/11/close-packed-structures-fcc-and-hcp
Miller Indices
• A Convenient Way to Identify Crystal Planes and Directions
• For Planes, the index is the reciprocal of the value of the intersection of
the plane with a particular axis, converted to whole numbers.
• For Directions, the index is the axis coordinate of the end point of the
vector, converted to nearest whole numbers.

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Miller indices(planes)
• Miller Indices for crystallographic planes are the reciprocals of the
fractional intercepts (with fractions cleared) which the plane makes
with the crystallographic x,y,z axes of the three nonparallel edges of
the cubic unit cell.
• Planes are indicated by parentheses, (hkl) and families of planes by
curly brackets, {hkl}.
• Procedure:
– Choose a plane that do not pass through origin
– Find the intercepts that the plane makes with the three that axes x,y,z.
– Take the reciprocal of intercepts
– Remove fractions
– Enclose in ( )

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• This plane intercepts the a, b, c axes at 1a, 2b, 3c.
• So the intercepts are 1,2,3
• The reciprocals are
• Remove fraction or smallest integer 6,3,2
• The Miller indices of this plane is
• If the plane is parallel to axis, the intercept is infinity so corresponding index is 0.
• If the plane intercepts the axis on the negative
side of origin, the corresponding index is
negative.
• To indicate this a minus is placed above the
index: ℎ𝑘𝑙
A:?
B: ?
 • Plane A and B both pass through origin.
Displace the planes so that it does not pass
through origin.

A: ?
B: ?

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 • Plane A and B both pass through origin.
Displace the planes so that it does not pass
through origin.

A: ?
B: ?

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 • Plane A and B both pass through origin.
Displace the planes so that it does not pass
through origin.

A: ?
B: ?

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• Plane A and B both pass through origin.
Displace the planes so that it does not pass
through origin.

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• Plane A and B both pass through origin.
Displace the planes so that it does not pass
through origin.

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• Plane A and B both pass through origin.
Displace the planes so that it does not pass
through origin.

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 • Plane A and B both pass through origin.
Displace the planes so that it does not pass
through origin.

A: ?
B: ?

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 • Plane A and B both pass through origin.
Displace the planes so that it does not pass
through origin.

A: ?
B: ?

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Crystal planes

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