EE133 Solid-State Electronics Fall, 20 16

Homework One
(Due: Tues. Oct. 10, 2017)
1. Define a lattice.

2. How many lattice points are associated with (a) a primitive cell? (b) a unit cell?

3. The atoms associated with a lattice point are referred to as the ___________________?

4. For the fcc lattice, the basis vectors of the cubic unit cell are a times the unit vectors in the x, y,
and z directions. What are the the primitive vectors corresponding to the primitive cell? Hint:
They are non-orthogonal. They are all the same length. They are shorter than a. An integer
multiple of them (na + mb + pc) will reach every lattice point in the fcc lattice (and no other
points).

5. Beginning with an fcc lattice, adding atoms at (¼, ¼, ¼)a from each fcc atom gives the diamond
lattice as shown on p. 10 of the Lec. 2 slides. Give the position of each one of the 4 interior atoms.
The first one is already given as (¼, ¼, ¼)a, i.e. the back left corner atom is assumed to be at the
origin (0,0,0) with the cube going out along the positive xyz axes.

6. Find the number of atoms/unit-cell and nearest neighbor distance for (a) sc, (b) bcc, (c) fcc, (d)
diamond, and (e) zinc blende unit-cells. Note that the nearest-neighbor distance corresponds to
the atomic bond length.

7. Calculate the density (in units of g/cm3) of Si and GaAs from the lattice constants, atomic weights,
and Avogadro’s number. The atomic weights of Si, Ga, and As are 28.1, 69.7, and 74.9,
respectively. The lattice constants corresponding to the cubic unit cell of Si and GaAs are 5.43 and
5.65 (angstroms), respectively.

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EE133 Solid-State Electronics Fall, 20 16

8. Which of the following three unit cells are primitive cells for the 2-dimensional lattice? Explain.

9. Label the planes illustrated in Fig. 1, i.e. give the Miller indices.

Fig. 1

10. Draw the (113) plane with its intercepts at the x, y, and z axes.

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EE133 Solid-State Electronics Fall, 20 16

11. Write down the Miller indices of the

(a) x-y plane.

(b) y-z plane.

12. Label the following planes using the correct notation for a cubic lattice of unit cell edge length a.

13. On the following sets of axes, (1) sketch the [011] direction and (2) a (111) plane (for a cubic
system with primitive vectors a, b, and c).

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EE133 Solid-State Electronics Fall, 20 16

14. (a) Determine the Miller indices for each plane below (shown within the first quadrant for 0 < x, y, z
< a only, with the dotted lines for reference only).
(b) Which of the planes are equivalent? Write down the Miller indices of the equivalent plane
using the correct notation.

15. Label each plane below with its Miller indices using correct notation.

16. What epitaxial growth method would you use to grow very thin (several nm), very precise layers of
single-crystal semiconductor?

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EE133 Solid-State Electronics Fall, 20 16

17. What growth method is used industrially to grow epitaxial, single-crystal layers of Si on Si?

23. Your boss tells you to get a p-type Si wafer out of the box. By looking at the wafer, how can you tell
whether it is n-type or p-type?