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Interstitials are a variety of crystallographic defects, i.e.

atoms which occupy a site in the crystal structure at which there is usually not an atom, or two or more atoms sharing one or more lattice sites such that the number of atoms is larger than the number of lattice sites. They are generally high energy configurations. [1] Small atoms in some crystals can occupy interstitial sites in an energetically favourable configuration, such as hydrogen in palladium. Interstitials can be produced for instance by particle irradiation above the threshold displacement energy, but may also exist in small concentrations in thermodynamic equilibrium. he structure of interstitial defects has been experimentally determined in some metals and semiconductors. Contrary to what one might intuitively expect, most self-interstitials in metals with a known structure have a 'split' structure, in which two atoms share the same lattice site. [1][2] Typically the center of mass of the two atoms is at the lattice site, and they are displaced symmetrically from it along one of the principal lattice directions. For instance, in several common FCC metals such as copper, nickel and platinum, the ground state structure of the self-interstitial is the split [100] interstitial structure, where two atoms are displaced in a positive and negative [100] direction from the lattice site. In BCC iron the ground state interstitial structure is similarly a [110] split interstitial. Curiously enough, these split interstitials are often called dumbbell interstitials, because plotting the two atoms forming the interstitial with two large spheres and a thick line joining them makes the structure resemble a dumbbell weight-lifting device. In other BCC metals than iron, the ground state structure is believed to be the [111] crowdion interstitial (although the issue is still not well established), which can be understood as a long chain (typically some 10-20) of atoms along the [111] lattice direction, compressed compared to the perfect lattice such that the chain contains one extra atom In crystallography, the cubic (or isometric) crystal system is a crystal system where the unit cell is in the shape of a cube. This is one of the most common and simplest shapes found in crystals and minerals. There are three main varieties of these crystals:

Primitive cubic (abbreviated cP[1] and alternatively called simple cubic) Body-centered cubic (abbreviated cI[1] or bcc), Face-centered cubic (abbreviated cF[1] or fcc, and alternatively called cubic closepacked or ccp)

Each is subdivided into other variants listed below. Note that although the unit cell in these crystals is conventionally taken to be a cube, the primitive unit cell often is not. This is related to the fact that in most cubic crystal systems, there is more than one atom per cubic unit cell. The primitive cubic system (cP) consists of one lattice point on each corner of the cube. Each atom at a lattice point is then shared equally between eight adjacent cubes, and the unit cell therefore contains in total one atom (18 8).

The body-centered cubic system (cI) has one lattice point in the center of the unit cell in addition to the eight corner points. It has a net total of 2 lattice points per unit cell (18 8 + 1). The face-centered cubic system (cF) has lattice points on the faces of the cube, that each gives exactly one half contribution, in addition to the corner lattice points, giving a total of 4 lattice points per unit cell (18 8 from the corners plus 12 6 from the faces). Attempting to create a C-centered cubic crystal system (i.e., putting an extra lattice point in the center of each horizontal face) would result in a simple tetragonal Bravais lattice One important characteristic of a crystalline structure is its atomic packing factor. This is calculated by assuming that all the atoms are identical spheres, with a radius large enough that each sphere abuts the next. The atomic packing factor is the proportion of space filled by these spheres. Assuming one atom per lattice point, in a primitive cubic lattice with cube side length a, the sphere radius would be a2 and the atomic packing factor turns out to be about 0.524 (which is quite low). Similarly, in a bcc lattice, the atomic packing factor is 0.680, and in fcc it is 0.740. The fcc value is the highest theoretically possible value for any lattice, although there are other lattices which also achieve the same value, such as hexagonal close packed and one version of tetrahedral bcc. As a rule, since atoms in a solid attract each other, the more tightly-packed arrangements of atoms tend to be more common. (Loosely packed arrangements do occur, though, for example if the orbital hybridization demands certain bond angles.) Accordingly, the primitive-cubic structure, with especially low atomic packing factor, is rare in nature, but is found in polonium.[4] The bcc and fcc, with their higher densities, are both quite common in nature. Examples of bcc include iron, chromium, tungsten, and niobium. Examples of fcc include lead (for example in lead(II) nitrate), aluminum, copper, gold and silver. One structure is the "interpenetrating primitive cubic" structure, also called the "caesium chloride" structure. Each of the two atom types forms a separate primitive cubic lattice, with an atom of one type at the center of each cube of the other type. Altogether, the arrangement of atoms is the same as body-centered cubic, but with alternating types of atoms at the different lattice sites. (See picture here.) Examples of compounds with this structure include caesium chloride itself, as well as certain other alkali halides when prepared at low temperatures or high pressures.[5] More generally, this structure is more likely to be formed from two elements whose ions are of roughly the same size (for example, ionic radius of Cs+ = 167 pm, and Cl = 181 pm) . Zincblende structure

A zincblende unit cell Another common structure is the "zincblende" structure (also spelled "zinc blende"), named after the mineral zincblende (sphalerite). As in the rock-salt structure, the two atom types form two interpenetrating face-centered cubic lattices. However, it differs from rock-salt structure in how the two lattices are positioned relative to one another. The zincblende structure has tetrahedral coordination: Each atom's nearest neighbors consist of four atoms of the opposite type, positioned like the four vertices of a regular tetrahedron. Altogether, the arrangement of atoms in zincblende structure is the same as diamond cubic structure, but with alternating types of atoms at the different lattice sites. (See picture here.) Examples of compounds with this structure include zincblende itself, many compound semiconductors (such as gallium arsenide and cadmium telluride), and a wide array of other binary compounds. The space group of this structure is called F43m (in HermannMauguin notation), or "#216" in the International Tables for Crystallography.[11][12] The Strukturbericht designation is "B3".[13]

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