MILLER INDICES

 PLANES
 DIRECTIONS

From the law of rational indices developed by French Physicist and mineralogist
Abbé René Just Haüy
and popularized by
William Hallowes Miller
Definition

• Miller indices are used to specify directions

and planes.
• These directions and planes could be in
lattices or in crystals.
• The number of indices will match with the
dimension of the lattice or the crystal.
• E.g. in 1D there will be 1 index and 2D there
will be two indices etc.
 MILLER INDICES

The crystal lattice may be regarded as made

up of an infinite set of parallel equidistant
planes passing through the lattice points
which are known as lattice planes.
In simple terms, the planes passing through
lattice points are called ‘lattice planes’.
For a given lattice, the lattice planes can be
chosen in a different number of ways.

PH 0101 UNIT 4 LECTURE 2 3

 CRYSTAL DIRECTIONS

To find the Miller indices of a direction,

Choose a perpendicular plane to that direction.

Find the Miller indices of that perpendicular plane.

The perpendicular plane and the direction have

the same Miller indices value.

Therefore, the Miller indices of the perpendicular

plane is written within a square bracket to
represent the Miller indices of the direction like [ ].
PH 0101 UNIT 4 LECTURE 2 4
Importance of Miller Indices
• In Materials Science it is important to have
a notation system
for atomic planes since these planes
influence
• Optical properties
• Reactivity
• Surface tension
• Dislocations
Notation Summary
• (h,k,l) represents a point – note the exclusive
use of commas
• Negative numbers/directions are denoted
with a bar on top of the number
• [hkl] represents a direction
• <hkl> represents a family of directions
• (hkl) represents a plane
• {hkl} represents a family of planes
Miller Indices for Directions
•A vector r passing from the origin to a lattice
point can be written as:
r = r1 a + r2 b + r3c
where, a, b, c → basic vectors and
miller indices → (r1,r2,r3)
• Fractions in (r1,r2,r3) are eliminated by
multiplying all components by
their common denominator.
• [e.g. (1, ¾ ,½ ) will be expressed as (432)]
 MILLER INDICES

Procedure for finding Miller Indices

Step 1: Determine the intercepts of the plane

along the axes X,Y and Z in terms of
the lattice constants a,b and c.

Step 2: Determine the reciprocals of these

numbers.

PH 0101 UNIT 4 LECTURE 2 8

 MILLER INDICES

Step 3: Find the least common denominator (lcd)

and multiply each by this lcd.

Step 4:The result is written in paranthesis.This is

called the `Miller Indices’ of the plane in
the form (h k l).

This is called the `Miller Indices’ of the plane in the form

(h k l).

PH 0101 UNIT 4 LECTURE 2 9

 Point Coordinates

• Coordinates of selected points in the unit cell.

• The number refers to the distance from the origin in terms of lattice parameters.
 PointCoordinates
Point Coordinates
z
111 Point coordinates for unit cell
c center are
a/2, b/2, c/2 ½½½
y
a 000 b
Point coordinates for unit cell
x
 corner are 111
z 2c

Translation: integer multiple of
  lattice constants  identical
b y position in another unit cell
b
11
Miller Indices for directions
                

                
(4,3)
                

                

                

                
(0,0)
                
5a + 3b
                

                
b
                
a
Miller indices → [53]
 Crystallographic Directions
z Algorithm

1. Vector repositioned (if necessary) to pass

through origin.
2. Read off projections in terms of
unit cell dimensions a, b, and c
y 3. Adjust to smallest integer values
4. Enclose in square brackets, no commas
x [uvw]

ex: 1, 0, ½ => 2, 0, 1 => [ 201 ]

-1, 1, 1 => [ 111 ] where overbar represents a negative index

15
Miller Indices for Planes:
Procedure
1. Identify the plane intercepts on the x, y and
z-axes.
2. Specify intercepts in fractional coordinates.
3. Take the reciprocals of the fractional
intercepts.
IMPORTANT DIRECTIONS IN CRYSTAL

PH 0101 UNIT 4 LECTURE 2 27

 PROBLEMS

Worked Example
Find the angle between the directions [2 1 1] and [1 1 2] in a cubic
crystal.

The two directions are [2 1 1] and [1 1 2]

We know that the angle between the two directions,

u1u 2  v1 v2  w1 w 2
cos  
(u12  v12  w12 )½  (u 22  v 22  w 22 )½

PH 0101 UNIT 4 LECTURE 2 29

 PROBLEMS

In this case, u1 = 2, v1 = 1, w1 = 1, u2 = 1, v2 = 1, w2 = 2

(2  1)  (1  1)  (1  2) 5
 cos   
22  12  l2  12  12  22 6

(or) cos  = 0.833

 = 35° 3530.

PH 0101 UNIT 4 LECTURE 2 30

 Crystallographic Planes
• Crystallographic planes are specified by 3 Miller Indices (h
k l). All parallel planes have same Miller indices.

31
 Crystallographic Planes
z

example a b c c
1. Intercepts 1 1 
2. Reciprocals 1/1 1/1 1/
1 1 0
y
3. Reduction 1 1 0
a b
4. Miller Indices (110) x
z
example a b c
1. Intercepts 1/2   c
2. Reciprocals 1/½ 1/ 1/
2 0 0
3. Reduction 2 0 0 y
4. Miller Indices (200) a b

32
 Crystallographic Planes
example a b c
1. Intercepts 1/2 1 3/4
2. Reciprocals 1/½ 1/1 1/¾
2 1 4/3 z
3. Reduction 6 3 4
c
4. Miller Indices (634) 

 y
a  b

33
FCC Unit Cell with (110) plane

34
BCC Unit Cell with (110) plane

35
Miller Indices for planes

(0,0,1)

(0,3,0)

(2,0,0)

 Find intercepts along axes → 2 3 1

 Take reciprocal → 1/2 1/3 1
 Convert to smallest integers in the same ratio → 3 2 6
 Enclose in parenthesis → (326)
Intercepts → 1   Intercepts → 1 1 
Plane → (100) Plane → (110)
Family → {100} → 3 Family → {110} → 6

Intercepts → 1 1 1
Plane → (111)
Family → {111} → 8
(Octahedral plane)
Hexagonal crystals → Miller-Bravais Indices

a3 Intercepts → 1 1 - ½ 
Plane → (1 12 0) (h k i l)
i = (h + k)

a2

a1
The use of the 4 index notation is to bring out the equivalence
between crystallographically equivalent planes and directions
Examples to show the utility of the 4 index notation
a3

a2

a1

Intercepts → 1 -1   Intercepts →  1 -1 
Miller → (1 1 0 ) Miller → (0 1 0)
Miller-Bravais → (1 1 0 0 ) Miller-Bravais → (0 11 0)
Intercepts → 1 1 - ½ 1
Plane → (1 12 1)

Intercepts → 1   1 1
Plane → (1 01 1)
 SUMMARY
• Crystallographic points, directions and planes are
specified in terms of indexing schemes.
• Materials can be single crystals or polycrystalline.
• Material properties generally vary with single crystal
orientation (anisotropic), but are generally non-
directional (isotropic) in polycrystals with randomly
oriented grains.
• Some materials can have more than one crystal
structure. This is referred to as polymorphism (or
allotropy).

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• Determine the plane on crystal structure with
the following Index Miller:

(1 0 -1) (2 -1 1) (0 1 2) (3 -1 3) (-1 -1 1)
(-2 1 2) (3 -1 2) (3 0 1)

http://www.doitpoms.ac.uk/tlplib/miller_indices/draw_lattice.php