One unit cell of the diamond cubic crystal structure. Bond length shown is for carbon.

The diamond cubic crystal structure is a repeating pattern that atoms may adopt as certain materials solidify. While the first known example was diamond, other elements in group IV also adopt this structure, including the semiconductors silicon and germanium, and silicon/germanium alloys in any proportion. Unit cell of the crystal diamond. ... Rose des Sables (Sand Rose), formed of gypsum crystals In mineralogy and crystallography, a crystal structure is a unique arrangement of atoms in a crystal. ... General Name, Symbol, Number carbon, C, 6 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 14, 2, p Appearance black (graphite) colorless (diamond) Atomic mass 12. ... Rose des Sables (Sand Rose), formed of gypsum crystals In mineralogy and crystallography, a crystal structure is a unique arrangement of atoms in a crystal. ... Material is the substance or matter from which something is or can be made, or also items needed for doing or creating something. ... A scattering of round-brilliant cut diamonds shows off the many reflecting facets. ... A semiconductor is a material with an electrical conductance that is intermediate to those of an insulator and a conductor. ... General Name, Symbol, Number silicon, Si, 14 Chemical series metalloids Group, Period, Block 14, 3, p Appearance dark gray, bluish tinge Atomic mass 28. ... General Name, Symbol, Number germanium, Ge, 32 Chemical series metalloids Group, Period, Block 14, 4, p Appearance grayish white Atomic mass 72. ... An alloy is a combination, either in solution or compound, of two or more elements, at least one of which is a metal, and where the resultant material has metallic properties. ...

Diamond cubic is in the Fd3m space group, which follows the face-centered cubic bravais lattice. The lattice describes the repeat pattern; for diamond cubic crystals this lattice is "decorated" with a motif of two tetrahedrally bonded atoms in each primitive cell, separated by 1/4 of the width of the unit cell in each dimension. Many compound semiconductors such as gallium arsenide, silicon carbide and indium antimonide adopt the analogous zinc blende structure, where each atom has nearest neighbors of an unlike element. This structure's space group is F43m, but many of its structural properties are quite similar. The space group of a crystal is a mathematical description of the symmetry inherent in the structure. ... In crystallography, the cubic crystal system (or isometric crystal system) is the most symmetric of the 7 crystal systems. ... In geometry and crystallography, a Bravais lattice is an infinite set of points generated by a set of discrete translation operations. ... A tetrahedron (plural: tetrahedra) is a polyhedron composed of four triangular faces, three of which meet at each vertex. ... This article is about the chemical compound. ... Silicon carbide (SiC), also known as carborundum or moissanite, is a ceramic compound of silicon and carbon. ... Indium antimonide - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins/monobook/IE50Fixes. ... Sphalerite sample Another sphalerite sample Sphalerite (ZnS) is a mineral that is the chief ore of zinc. ...

See also crystallography. Crystallography (from the Greek words crystallon = cold drop / frozen drop, with its meaning extending to all solids with some degree of transparency, and graphein = write) is the experimental science of determining the arrangement of atoms in solids. ...

Manufacturing considerations

A diamond cubic crystal viewed from a <110> direction.

Since this class of material is important for electronics, it is important to know that they present open, hexagonal ion channels when ion implantation is carried out from any of the <110> directions (that is, 45 degrees from one of the cube edges). Their open structure also results in a volume reduction upon melting or amorphization, as is also seen in ice. Diamond Crystal Bond Structure - model built and photographed by Vincent Herr 2001. ... Crystallography (from the Greek words crystallon = cold drop / frozen drop, with its meaning extending to all solids with some degree of transparency, and graphein = write) is the experimental science of determining the arrangement of atoms in solids. ... Two digital voltmeters The field of electronics is the study and use of electrical devices that operate by controlling the flow of electrons or other electrically charged particles in devices such as thermionic valves and semiconductors. ... Ion implantation is a materials engineering process by which ions of a material can be implanted into another solid, thereby changing the physical properties of the solid. ... An amorphous solid is a solid in which there is no long-range order of the positions of the atoms. ... Icicles A natural, 4 tonne, block of ice on a beach in Iceland Ice is the solid form of water. ...

They display octahedral cleavage, which means that they have four planes—directions following the faces of the octahedron where there are fewer bonds and therefore points of structural weakness—along which single crystals can easily split, leaving smooth surfaces. Similarly, this lack of bonds can guide chemical etching of the right chemistry (i.e., potassium hydroxide solutions for Si) to produce pyramidal structures such as mesas, points, or etch pits, a useful technique for MEMS. An octahedron (plural: octahedra) is a polyhedron with eight faces. ... Cleaveage, in mineralogy, is the tendency of crystalline materials to split along definite planes, creating smooth surfaces, of which there are several named types: Basal cleavage: cleavage parallel to the base of a crystal, or to the plane of the lateral axes. ... Etching is an intaglio method of printmaking in which the image is incised into the surface of a metal plate using an acid. ... The chemical compound potassium hydroxide, (KOH) sometimes known as caustic potash, potassa, potash lye, and potassium hydrate, is a metallic base. ... Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) is the technology of the very small, yet not within the realm of Molecular nanotechnology. ...