BISHOP STUART UNIVERSITY

NAME: BYARUHANGA ASAPH

REG NO: 23/BSU/BEDS/0485

PROGRAMME: BACHELOR OF EDUCATION SECONDARY

(RECESS)

FACULITY: FACULITY OF EDUCATION, ARTS AND MEDIA

STUDIES.

DEPARTMENT: SCIENCE EDUCATION

COURSE NAME: SOLID STATE PHYSICS

SEMISTER: TWO

YEAR: ONE

ACADEMIC YEAR: 2023/2024.

DATE: 13th may, 2024.

TEL: 0782386373

Questio1

a).i what is a primitive cell

A primitive cell, in the context of crystallography, refers to the smallest unit cell that can
fully define the three-dimensional periodicity of a crystal lattice. This means that by
replicating the primitive cell in three dimensions, you can construct the entire crystal lattice.

The primitive cell typically contains one lattice point (atom or molecule) at each of its
corners. It is often used in crystal structure determination and analysis because it simplifies
calculations and descriptions of the crystal lattice's properties. The Wigner-Seitz cell is a
method used in solid-state physics and crystallography to define the primitive cell of a crystal
lattice. Here's how it works:

The Wigner-Seitz cell is a method used in solid-state physics and crystallography to define
the primitive cell of a crystal lattice. Here's how it works:

ii) Determination of a primitive cell by Seitz.

1. Choose a Lattice Point: Start by selecting any lattice point within the crystal lattice. This
lattice point represents the position of an atom, ion, or molecule in the crystal.

2. Construct a Wigner-Seitz Cell: Draw lines connecting this chosen lattice point to its
nearest neighbours. These lines form boundaries that enclose a polygon around the chosen
lattice point. This polygon is called the Wigner-Seitz cell.

3. Make the Cell Unique: If the crystal lattice has symmetry operations (such as rotation,
reflection, or translation), apply these operations to the Wigner-Seitz cell to make it unique.
This step ensures that the primitive cell captures the essential symmetry of the crystal lattice.

4. Define the Primitive Cell: The Wigner-Seitz cell, after applying symmetry operations if
necessary, becomes the primitive cell of the crystal lattice. This primitive cell is the smallest
repeating unit that can fully describe the three-dimensional periodic arrangement of atoms or
molecules in the crystal.
The Wigner-Seitz cell is particularly useful because it is unique to each lattice point, taking
into account the specific arrangement of neighbouring lattice points around it. This method
helps in understanding the symmetry and properties of the crystal lattice, especially in studies
related to electronic structure, band theory, and physical properties of materials.

b)( i) Explain the term coordination number

The coordination number refers to the number of nearest neighbours surrounding a central
atom or ion in a crystal structure or molecule. It's a concept commonly used in chemistry,
materials science, and solid-state physics to describe the spatial arrangement of atoms or ions
around a reference point.

ii)reciprocal of intercepts of= 1/(2a) , 1/(3b) , 1/(2c)

lcm of denominators =6abc

¿ 6 abc ¿) , 6 acb (
1
3b ( )
), 6 abc
1
2c

3 2 3
¿ , ,
2 3 2

Multiplying by 6 = (9, 4, 9) this is the smallest term possible for the whole
numbers . therefore, the miller indices for the planes are ( 9, 4, 9).

C (i) explain the term zone axis

A zone axis refers to a specific direction in a crystal lattice along which the lattice repeats
itself periodically. It's a concept used in crystallography to describe the orientation of a
crystallographic axis or set of axes relative to the lattice structure. Understanding zone axes is
crucial for analysing and describing the symmetry and properties of crystalline materials.

Here are some key points about zone axes:

1.Definition:A zone axis is a direction in a crystal lattice along which the atomic arrangement
repeats with the highest degree of symmetry. This means that if you move along a zone axis,
you will encounter similar atomic arrangements at regular intervals, reflecting the periodicity
of the crystal lattice.
2. Miller Indices: Zone axes are typically described using Miller indices, which are symbolic
representations of crystallographic directions. For example, a zone axis may be denoted as
[uvw], where u, v, and w are integers representing the direction of the axis in terms of its
intercepts with the crystallographic axes.

3. Importance: Zone axes are important because they are related to the crystal's symmetry and
the arrangement of atoms or ions within the lattice. Different zone axes may exhibit different
properties or reveal specific features of the crystal structure.

4. Symmetry Relationships: Certain zone axes have special symmetry relationships with the
crystal lattice. For example, a cubic crystal may have high symmetry along certain zone axes,
such as [100], [110], or [111], which correspond to the main crystallographic directions in a
cubic lattice.

5. Applications ;Zone axes are used in various applications within materials science, such as
determining crystal orientations during microscopy, analysing diffraction patterns in X-ray
crystallography, and understanding the behaviour of crystals under different conditions.

C ii ). Show whether the set of planes (2 3 4 ), (2,1,2) and (2 4 1) belong to a zone .

To determine if a set of planes belongs to a zone, we need to check if they have a common
direction or axis, we need to check if they have a common direction ( h , k , l¿ that is
perpendicular to each other.

Using cross product;

( 2 3 4 )× (2 1 2) = [-2 4 -4]

( 2 3 4 ) x (2 4 1) = [2 -2 2]

(2 1 2) x (2 4 1) = [2 2 -2 ]
Direction [ h k l] perpendicular to each plane

Using cross product above .

[-2 4 -4] x [2 -2 2]= [0 0 0] this is a null vector , the planes are not parallel

[2 -2 2] x [2 2 -2 ] =[0 0 0] this is a null vector , the planes are not parallel

However,[-2 4 -4 ] x [2 2 -2]= [-16 -16 -16] result shows that ( 2 3 4 ) (2 1 2) and (2 4 1) do

belong to a zone and a common direction [h k l] is [ -1 -1 -1] or any multiple of this vector.
In this case the zone axis is [-1 -1 -1].

(d) What is the direction of the following pairs of planes (2 2 1) and (3 1 2) .

We take cross product of the normal = (2 ,2 ,1) × (3 ,1 ,2) = (2 x2x -2 x3, 2x 2 -1x1x1x3-
2x2)=(-4, 3,-1)

Therefore, the intersection of the two planes is (-4, 3, -1).

2(a) I. Bragg's Law states that: When the X-ray is incident onto a crystal surface, its angle
of incidence, θ, will reflect with the same angle of scattering, θ. And, when the path
difference, d is equal to a whole number, n, of wavelength, λ, constructive interference will
occur.

(ii) Derivation of Bragg’s Law

Consider the following figure of beams in which the phases of the beams coincide when the
incident angle is equal to the reflecting angle. The incident beams are parallel to each other
until they reach point z. When they are at point z, they strike the surface and travel upwards.
At point B, the second beam scatters. AB + BC is the distance travelled by the second beam.
The extra distance is known as the integral multiple of the wavelength.
nλ = AB + BC

We also know that AB = BC

nλ = 2AB (equation 1)

d is the hypotenuse of the right triangle Abz. Ab is the opposite of the angle θ.

AB = d sinθ (equation 2)

Substituting equation 2 in equation 1

nλ = 2d sinθ

The above equation is Bragg’s law expression.

b (i) indexing the pattern is a process where each peak is identified by the (hkl) Miller-index
of the lattice plane that it results from and where from a least squares refinement of all
positional information available precise values for the lattice parameters are computed.
(ii) X-ray crystallography is the experimental science of determining the atomic and
molecular structure of a crystal, in which the crystalline structure causes a beam of incident
X-rays to diffract in specific directions.

(c) First, we need to generate xx-rays: this process is shown on the left. As we discussed, by
shooting high energy electrons at a target made of heavy atoms (copper is a common choice),
both characteristic xx-rays and Bremsstrahlung are generated. Then, by bombarding an
unknown sample with the xx-rays, and measuring the scattered light as a function of incident
angle, we can probe the interplanar spacing that exists within the crystal. However, recall that
the Bragg condition is wavelength-dependent: to really do this effectively, we only want to
keep a narrow band of wavelengths. This is accomplished by employing a filter, removing
everything except the x-rays, for example.

After all that, what is really measured in an XRD experiment is the intensity of scattered x-
rays as a function of incident angle. A typical X Ray spectrum looks something like this:

Plotted here is intensity/counts of x-rays on a detector as a function of or twice the incident

angle. It is helpful to utilize the following table to translate an XRD plot to a crystal
structure/element:

Peak # 2θ from graph θ←×12sin2θ calculator normalized divide all ← by ← smallest

of an integer integer multiply ← by (often 2 or 3 ) plane h2+k2+l2=← Peak
2sin2 normalized integer plane from ←×12 calculator divide
all multiply graph ← by ← by ℎ2+2+2=← smallest of an integer (often 2 or 3 ) ←

Selection rules

As we discussed in lecture, we can apply selection rules to determine what kind of crystal
structure a sample has. For each of the Bravais lattices, selection rules tell us which planes
have coherent scattering and which do not:

Cubic crystal Allowed planes (hklhkl) Forbidden planes(hklhkl)

SCSC any h,k,lh,k,l none

BCCBCC h+k+l=h+k+l= even number h+k+l=h+k+l= odd number

h,k,lh,k,l all even

FCCFCC h,k,lh,k,l mixed even and odd
h,k,lh,k,l all odd

3(a) I Conductors: Materials that easily conduct electricity (i.e., materials with high
electrical conductivity and low electrical resistivity)

Semiconductors: Materials with an electrical conductivity value that falls between that of a
conductor and that of an insulator.

(ii) Electronic polarization: When an electric field is applied to a capacitor, the dielectric
material (or electric insulator) become polarized, such that the negative charges in the
material orient themselves toward the positive electrode and the positive charges shift toward
the negative electrode.

Ionic Polarization: In ionic solids such as ceramic materials, the ions are symmetrically
arranged in a crystal lattice with a net zero polarization. Once an electric field is applied, the
cations and anions are attracted to opposite directions.

orientation polarization: occurs with molecules that have permanent dipole moments. These
molecules are partially aligned by the field and contribute heavily to the polarization. Thus,
the dielectric constant of a nonpolar liquid, such as a hydrocarbon, is about 2, that of a
weakly polar liquid.

(b)

(i) Thermal conductivity is defined as the ability of a material to conduct heat from its one
side to the other. It is represented with thermal conductivity coefficient λ. Smaller λ indicates
that the material has stronger heat insulation and preservation.

(ii) Heat conduction in metals: The various process of thermal conduction of metals
includes molecular collisions + conduction electrons for metals in the gas state, and lattice
vibrations + conducting electrons for metals in solid-state. Conduction electrons are
essentially what makes a metal a fantastic conductor.

Heat conduction in insulators: Conduction in insulators (non-metals) is only caused by

passing vibrations from atom to atom. Conduction in good conductors (metals) is caused by
collisions between fast moving free electrons and metal ions and by-passing vibrations from
atom to atom.

4 (a) (i) A unit cell is the smallest portion of a crystal lattice that shows the three-dimensional
pattern of the entire crystal. A crystal can be thought of as the same unit cell repeated over
and over in three dimensions. The figure below illustrates the relationship of a unit cell to the
entire crystal lattice.

Packing efficiency in face centered unit cell and Cubic close packing structure:
Hexagonal close packing (hcp) and cubic close packing (ccp) have the same packing
efficiency. Let us take a unit cell of edge length “a”. Length of face diagonal, b can be
calculated with the help of Pythagoras theorem,

𝑏2=𝑎2+𝑎2

The radius of the sphere is r

The face diagonal (b) = r + 2r + r = 4r

∴(4𝑟)2=𝑎2+𝑎2

⇒(4𝑟)2=2𝑎2

⇒𝑎=16𝑟22

⇒𝑎=8𝑟

Volume of the cube = a3 =

(8𝑟)3

Volume of the sphere = (4/3) π r3

No. of Sphere present in one FCC unit cell =4

The volume of the sphere = 4 x (4/3) π r3

𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑃𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦=𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑝ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑢𝑏𝑒×100

=163𝜋𝑟388𝑟3×100

= 74%

5(a) Lattice Vibration is the oscillations of atoms in a solid about the equilibrium position.
For a crystal, the equilibrium positions form a regular lattice, due to the fact that the atoms
are bound to neighbouring atoms. The vibration of these neighbouring atoms is not
independent of each other.

(i) In semiconductor production, doping is the intentional introduction of impurities into an

intrinsic (undoped) semiconductor for the purpose of modulating its electrical, optical and
structural properties. The doped material is referred to as an extrinsic semiconductor.

(II) An n-type semiconductor is an intrinsic semiconductor doped with phosphorus (P),

arsenic (As), or antimony (Sb) as an impurity. Silicon of Group IV has four valence electrons
and phosphorus of Group V has five valence electrons.

A p-type semiconductor is an intrinsic semiconductor doped with boron or indium. The

majority of carriers in p-type semiconductors are holes. Electrons are minority carriers in a p-
type semiconductor. In a p-type semiconductor, the hole density is much greater than the
electron density.

c) insulators: Insulators. In insulators, the band gap between the valence band the the
conduction band is so large that electrons cannot make the energy jump from the valence
band to the conduction band.

semiconductors: According to the band theory, semiconductors can really act as insulators at
absolute zero. After this temperature and below the melting of the solid, the metal would act
as a semiconductor. Semiconductors are classified by the absolutely occupied valence band
and unoccupied conduction band.

Metals: Metals conduct electricity with the help of valence electrons present in them. The
atomic orbitals of the metals having the same energy combine to form molecular orbitals
which are close in energy to each other to form a band.C (i) The symmetric group defined
over any set is the group whose elements are all the bijections from the set to itself, and
whose group operation is the composition of functions.

(ii) Symmetry group 1 (p1): This is the simplest symmetry group. It consists only of
translations. There are neither reflections, glide-reflections, nor rotations. The two translation
axes may be inclined at any angle to each other.

Symmetry group 3 (pm): This is the first group that contains reflections. The axes of
reflection are parallel to one axis of translation and perpendicular to the other axis of
translation. The lattice is rectangular. There are neither rotations nor glide reflections.

Symmetry group 5 (cm): There are no rotations in this group. The translations may be
inclined at any angle to each other, but the axes of the reflections bisect the angle formed by
the translations, so the fundamental region for the translation group is a rhombus.

Group P6mm: The symmetry of this residue is 6mm, i.e. it has a 6-fold rotation axis going
through its centre and perpendicular to the plane of the drawing, three mirror lines, each
connecting two opposite corners, and three mirror lines connecting the centres of opposite
edges.

6(a) (I) Bravais Lattice refers to the 14 different 3-dimensional configurations into which
atoms can be arranged in crystals. The smallest group of symmetrically aligned atoms which
can be repeated in an array to make up the entire crystal is called a unit cell.

(ii) 1D Bravais Lattice

In one dimension, there is only a single possible bravais lattice. Although discussing this is
pointless in and of itself, It is believed to be the simplest method to see how more complex
configurations can be reduced to the fundamental bravais lattices. Because there is only one
direction, anything that repeats has to do so at a specific distance in that direction.
Since there is only one direction, this distance must be constant. Because there is only one
variable (the amount of space between instances of anything), there is only one lattice. The
“linear” Bravais lattice is the name that we can give to this structure.

2D Bravais Lattices

There are five fundamental 2D Bravais lattices:

Square, a=b, θ=90°

Hexagonal, a=b, θ=120°

Rectangular, a≠b, θ=90°

Rectangular with a Centered Focus

It is important to note that the primitive cell is similar to a hexagonal or square shape but has
less symmetry.

Note that this only applies to the centre, and not the face, body, or base

Rhomboidal, a≠b, θ≠90°

The square 2D Bravais lattice fills a space with squares all the way around. The 2D Bravais
lattice is made up of squares that cover a space. The vectors a and b are perpendicular to each
other, but their sizes are different. The centred-rectangular 2D Bravais lattice fills a space
with rectangles that have an extra lattice point in the middle.

Vectors a and b are perpendicular to each other and have different lengths. There is an extra
point in the middle. The rhomboidal 2D Bravais lattice uses rhomboids to fill a space. The
vectors a and b in this lattice are different lengths and don’t meet at 90°.

3D Bravais Lattices

There are 14 different 3D Bravais lattices. Remember that translational symmetry is how the
Bravais lattices are made. Other symmetries, like reflection or inversion, are shown by point
and space groups, not by Bravais lattices. Each lattice is a polyhedron with 6 faces, 12 edges,
and 8 points.

We can describe these polyhedrons with 3 vectors that match 3 of the 12 edges (because the
polygon has 4 sides, there are 3 sets of 4 edges that match). So, we only need to describe 3
different vectors (as long as they come from 3 different edge sets). The cube is the lattice
shape with the most symmetry. All 12 edges are the same length, and they all meet at an
angle of 90°. This can be shown as 3 vectors of the same length that meet at an angle of 90°.

(b) (i) given:

Mass of the aluminum foil: m=0.0085 kgm=0.0085kg

 Molar mass of aluminum: M=0.02698 kg/molM=0.02698kg/mol

Avogadro's number: NA=6.022×1023 atoms/molNA=6.022×1023atoms/mol

First, calculate the number of moles of aluminum in the foil:

Number of moles=mMNumber of moles=Mm Number of moles=0.0085 kg0.02698
kg/molNumber of moles=0.02698kg/mol0.0085kg Number of moles≈0.315
molNumber of moles≈0.315mol

Next, calculate the number of atoms in the foil:

Number of atoms=Number of moles×NANumber of atoms=Number of moles×NA
Number of atoms=0.315 mol×6.022×1023 atoms/molNumber of atoms=0.315mol×6.022×10
23atoms/mol Number of atoms≈1.90×1023 atomsNumber of atoms≈1.90×1023atoms

So, the number of atoms present in the aluminum foil is approximately 1.90×10231.90×1023
atoms.

ii) Number of atoms per unit cell

Aluminium crystallizes in a face-cantered cubic (FCC) structure. In an FCC unit cell:

There are 8 corner atoms, each shared by 8unit cells, contributing 1881 of each atom
to one-unit cell.

There are 6 face atoms, each shared by 2unit cells, contributing 1221 of each atom to
one-unit cell.

The total number of atoms per unit cell is:

Number of atoms per unit cell=8×18+6×12Number of atoms per unit cell=8×81+6×21
Number of atoms per unit cell=1+3Number of atoms per unit cell=1+3
Number of atoms per unit cell=4Number of atoms per unit cell=4

So, the number of atoms per unit cell in an FCC structure is 4.

(d) (i) The phase velocity of a wave is the rate at which the wave propagates in any medium.
This is the velocity at which the phase of any one frequency component of the wave travels.
For such a component, any given phase of the wave (for example, the crest) will appear to
travel at the phase velocity.

(ii) The group velocity of a wave is the velocity with which the overall envelope shape of
the wave's amplitudes—known as the modulation or envelope of the wave—propagates
through space. Frequency dispersion in groups of gravity waves on the surface of deep water.