Ordering, point defects

Issues associated with order occupy a large area of study for crystalline matter [1, 7, 8]. For nearly perfect crystals, one can have systems with defects such as point defects and extended defects such as dislocations and grain... 

It is not necessary for a compound to depart from stoichiometry in order to contain point defects such as vacant sites on the cation sub-lattice. All compounds contain such iirndirsic defects even at the precisely stoichiometric ratio. The Schottky defects, in which an equal number of vacant sites are present on both cation and anion sub-lattices, may occur at a given tempe-ramre in such a large concentration drat die effects of small departures from stoichiometry are masked. Thus, in MnOi+ it is thought that the intrinsic concentration of defects (Mn + ions) is so large that when there are only small departures from stoichiometry, the additional concentration of Mn + ions which arises from these deparmres is negligibly small. The non-stoichiometry then varies as in this region. When the departure from non-stoichio-... 

Changes in the atomic correlations are enabled by atomic jumps between neighbouring lattice sites. In metals and their substitutional solutions point defects are responsible for these diffusion processes. Ordering kinetics can therefore yield information about properties of the point defects which are involved in the ordering process. 

Formula for the chemical potentials have been derived in terms of the formation energy of the four point defects. In the process the conceptual basis for calculating point defect energies in ordered alloys and the dependence of point defect concentrations on them has been clarified. The statistical physics of point defects in ordered alloys has been well described before [13], but the present work represents a generalisation in the sense that it is not dependent on any particular model, such as the Bragg-Williams approach with nearest neighbour bond energies. It is hoped that the results will be of use to theoreticians as well as... 

At temperatures of the order 700 - 900 K the surface point defects play the dominant role in controlling the various eledrophysical parameters of adsorbent on the content of ambient medium [32]. As it has been mentioned in section 1.6, these defects are being formed in the temperature domain in which the respective concentration of volume defects is very small. In fact, cooling an adsorbent down to room temperature results violation of uniform distribution due to redistribution of defects. The availability of non-homogeneous defect distribution led to creation of a new model of depleted surface layer based on the phenomenon of oxidation of surface defects [182] which is an alternative to existing model of the Shottky barrier [183]. 

A somewhat different situation is found in the type of point defect known as a Frenkel defect. In this case, an atom or ion is found in an interstitial position rather than in a normal lattice site as is shown in Figure 7.17. In order to position an atom or ion in an interstitial position, it must be possible for it to be close to other lattice members. This is facilitated when there is some degree of covalence in the bonding as is the case for silver halides and metals. Accordingly, Frenkel defects are the dominant type of defect in these types of solids. 

Figure 1.1 Defects in crystalline solids (a) point defects (interstitials) (b) a linear defect (edge dislocation) (c) a planar defect (antiphase boundary) (d) a volume defect (precipitate) (e) unit cell (filled) of a structure containing point defects (vacancies) and (/) unit cell (filled) of a defect-free structure containing ordered vacancies. ...

Point defect populations profoundly affect both the physical and chemical properties of materials. In order to describe these consequences a simple and self-consistent set of symbols is required. The most widely employed system is the Kroger-Vink notation. Using this formalism, it is possible to incorporate defect formation into chemical equations and hence use the powerful methods of chemical thermodynamics to treat defect equilibria. 

In general, low concentrations of the active ion, of the order of 1 %, are used. At these concentrations, the ions form point defects well isolated from each other. At higher concentrations, dopant ions tend to cluster and other energy loss mechanisms interfere with up-conversion. 

The line widths and shapes to be expected for cubic crystals containing point defects have been derived by Cohen and Reif for both first and second order quadrupole interaction 97). In particular, for point defect concentrations greater than about 0.1 (in terms of probability /, of a lattice site being occupied by a defect) distributed in a random fashion over various possible lattice sites, the second order interaction gives rise to a lopsided central component whose shape is given by (97)... 

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