Relations between the Concentrations of Imperfections in Crystalline Solids

The chapter presents a study on relations between the concentrations of imperfections in crystalline solids. Many properties of crystalline solids, such as the electronic or ionic conductivity, the color, the luminescence, and the magnetic susceptibility are determined by the presence of imperfections. Generally, six types of primary imperfections are distinguished; namely phonons, electrons and holes, excitons, vacant lattice sites and interstitial atoms or ions, foreign atoms or ions in either interstitial or substitutional positions, and dislocations. In addition atoms of the base crystal may be present at lattice sites normally occupied by other atoms. Five types of primary imperfections—namely, electrons and holes, vacant lattice sites, interstitials, misplaced lattice atoms, and foreign atoms—are discussed in this chapter. The chapter presents a new treatment of these problems by making use of a graphical representation. This treatment, together with the use of a band scheme for the electronic energy levels, greatly facilitates the application of the theory and the deduction of conclusions from it. Apart from a few exceptions, binary nonmetallic compounds of the formula M X will be considered almost exclusively. Here M indicates an element of a more electropositive character (metal) and X an element of a more electronegative character.