Problem Set Solution# 1

ECEN 3320 Fall 2012

Semiconductor Devices
August 27, 2012 Due September 5, 2012
1. Find the Miller indices for the planes shown below.

Figure 1: Planes indicating possible crystal stuctures.

Solution: (a) (3, 3, 3) ! (1/3, 1/3, 1/3) ! (1, 1, 1).
(b) (3, 2, 2) ! (1/3, 1/2, 1/2) ! (2, 3, 3)
2. Consider the three cubic lattices shown below where (a) could be a simple cubic, a facecentered cubic (fcc) or a body-centered cubic (bcc). In the successively labeled panes, the
planes a) [100], b) [110] and c) [111] are sketched in on the simple cubic lattice. Suppose all
three cubes have the same lattice constant a =0.7nm, that is, the cubic unit cells all have a
side length of 0.7 nm.
(a) Suppose one atom is placed at each lattice point of these three lattices. Calculate the
volume density of atoms (i. e. the number of atoms per unit volume in units of cm 3 )
for these three crystals.
Solution: The volume of the cubic unit cell is given by
a3 = (0.7nm)3 = 0.343nm3
such that
1
== 2.92 1021 /cm3 .
a3
1

Figure 2: Schematics of three cubic lattices simple cubic, face-centered cubic or body-centered cubic. The
planes a) [100], b) [110] and c) [111] are sketched in on the simple cubic lattice in the successively labeled
panels.

The simple cubic has one atom per cubic unit cell (1/8 of an atom at each of the 8
corners=1 atom).
1 atom
1
=
= 2.92 1021 /cm3
unit cell volume
0.343nm3
The FCC cubic has four atoms per cubic unit cell (1/8 of an atom at each of the 8
corners+1/2 of an atom on each of 6 facet=4 atoms).
nc =

4 atoms
4
=
= 1.17 1022 /cm3
unit cell volume
0.343nm3
The BCC cubic has two atoms per cubic unit cell (1/8 of an atom at each of the 8
corners+1 atom in the middle=2 atoms=1).
nc =

2 atoms
2
=
= 5.83 1021 /cm3
unit cell volume
0.343nm3
(b) For the fcc crystal, calculate the surface density of atoms (number of atoms per unit
area in units of cm 2 ) on the (100) plane.
Solution: The (100) section of the cubic unit cell of the fcc lattice has 4 spheres at the
corners (each having 1/4 inside the unit cell face) and 1 sphere at the center. There
are a total of 2 spheres in the area of a2 . The surface density is then
2
n=
= 4.08 1014 cm 2
(7 10 8 )2
nc =

(c) For the fcc crystal, calculate the surface density of atoms on the (111) plane.
Solution: The (111) section of the cubic unit cell of the fcc lattice appears as that
depicted in figure 3.
The 3 spheres at the corners contribute 1/6 each and the ones on the side constributes 1/2.
p So there are a total of 2 spheres in the area of the equilateral triangle
with side 2a. The surface density is therefore
2
4
n= p
=p
= 4.71 1014 cm 2
8 )2
3 2
3
(7

10
2 a
2

Figure 3: Schematic of the (111) plane of fcc lattice.

3. Cystal structures and number densities:
(a) The crystal structure of GaAs is zinc blende with lattice constant a =0.565 nm. Calculate
the number densities of Ga and As atoms per cm3 .
Solution: The zinc blende structure is an fcc lattice with two atom basis. For GaAs,
the basis consists of 1 Ga and one As atom. So if one counts the number of Ga
atoms only (or the number of As atoms only), the number will be the same as the
number of atoms in a regular fcc lattice, which is 4 atoms per cubic unit cell (see
problem 2(a)). Therefore. the Ga atom density is simply given as

nc =

4 atoms
4
=
unit cell volume
(5.65 10

8 )3

= 2.22 1022 cm

(b) The Ge crystal has diamond structure with lattice constant of 0.565 nm. Calculate the
number of Ge atoms per cm3 .
Solution: The Ge crystal has the diamond structure that is an fcc lattice with a two
atom basis. The basis consists of 2 Ge atoms. The total number of Ge atoms per
cubic unit cell is then 8. The density then is

nc =

8 atoms
8
=
unit cell volume
(5.65 10

8 )3

= 4.44 1022 cm