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Defects in Crystals
Defects in Crystals
“Nothing is Perfect in this Universe”
• “Crystals are like people, it is the defects in them which
tend to make them interesting!” - Colin Humphreys
• Gold- Purity is measured in Karat
24K – 99.9% 22K – 91.7% 18K – 75.0% 10K – 41.7%
An ideally perfect crystal consists of arrangement of atoms in a
perfectly regular manner without defects in any direction of
crystal.
• The understanding of this concept validates us to describe
many of the properties of solids like specific heat, density,
elasticity, magnetic properties etc.
Defects in Crystals . . . . The Basic Classes of Crystal Defects are:
• Many other properties of solids such as strength of crystals,
luminescence, color of crystals, plasticity, increased
conductivity of semi -conductors etc. could not be well
explained using the concept of perfect periodicity
• but can be explained on the basis of their deviations in
crystals from their perfect regularity.
• The deviations of crystals from their perfect periodicity (or
regularity) are called defects in crystals.
• Thus, real crystals essentially contain certain defects.
• “Imperfections in Perfect Crystals”
Lattice imperfection
• Defects have a profound impact on the macroscopic properties of
materials. • The defects which arise when the deviation extends through
microscopic regions of the crystal is called lattice imperfection or
• Sometimes defects are deliberately created to modify properties
lattice defect.
of crystals to suit some specific requirements/applications
• This leads to discontinuity in the lattice.
There are two types of imperfections:
The lattice imperfections may be subdivided into two categories:
1. Point imperfection
1. Line imperfection :
2. Lattice imperfection
If the deviation propagates as line in the crystal, it is called the
Point Defects line imperfection or line defect.
The defects which arise when the deviation from the periodic 2. Plane imperfection :
arrangement is localized to the vicinity of only several atoms is If the deviation propagates in microscopic areas, it is called the
called a point imperfection or point defect. plane imperfection or plane defect.
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Point defects: Point defects . . . .
• Crystalline solids are formed by joining many small crystals. There are 3 types of point defects:
• Different types of defects are found in crystals after the 1. Stoichiometric defect
process of crystallization. 2. Frenkel defect
• Point defects are accounted for when the crystallization 3. Schottky defect
process occurs at a very fast rate.
• These defects mainly happen due to deviation in the Stoichiometric defect
arrangement of constituting particles.
In this kind of point defect, the ratio of positive and
• In a crystalline solid, when the ideal arrangement of solids is negative ions (Stoichiometric) and electrical neutrality
distorted around a point/ atom it is called a point defect. of a solid is not disturbed. Sometimes it is also known
as intrinsic or thermodynamic defects.
Frenkel Defect: Definition:
• In ionic solids, generally, the smaller ion (cation) moves out
When a pair of vacancies is produced at one positive ion
of its place and occupies an intermolecular space.
site and one negative ion site by replacing positive and
• In this case, a vacancy defect is created on its original negative ions, then this type of defect is called Frenkel
position and the interstitial defect is experienced at its new
defect
position
• It is also known as dislocation defect.
• The density of a substance remains unchanged.
• It happens when there is a huge difference in the size of
anions and cations.
Example: ZnS and AgCl.
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Concentration of Frenkel Defects Schottky defect
• Consider a pure crystal comprising equal number of positively and
negatively charged ions.
• Suppose it contains a total of 𝑁 ions and n Frenkel defects i.e. n
cation/anion vacancies and n interstitial ions in its interior.
• The number of different ways 𝑊 in which n Frenkel defects can be
produced as:
where 𝑁𝑖 is the number of interstitial positions in the crystal
where E𝑖 is is the energy required to create a vacancy
Concentration of Schottky Defects The different number of ways W in which n vacancy pairs can
• Let us consider a pure crystal comprising of equal numbers be produced can be obtained
of positively and negatively charged ion.
• Suppose it contains a total of N ions and n Schottky defects
i.e., n cation vacancies and n anion vacancies in its interior.
• The number of different ways in which each kind of
vacancies can be produced is given by:
where 𝐸𝑝 is the energy required to produce a pair of
vacancies in the crystal’s interior, kB is the Boltzmann
constant
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Ex. For a simple cubic lattice compare the density of lattice
Ex. Calculate the interplaner spacing for a (321) plane in a simple
points in (111) and (110) planes.
cubic lattice. Lattice constant is 4 ∙2 × 10−10𝑚.
Sol. In a simple cubic lattice, the density of lattice points is given
In a simple cubic lattice 𝑎 = 𝑏 = 𝑐 by
The spacing between (ℎ𝑘𝑙) planes is given by
Here ℎ = 3, 𝑘 = 2, 𝑙 = 1 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎 = 4∙2× 10−10𝑚.
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