ABSTRACT
Surfaces of solids have become the subject of a great deal of interest to physicists and chemists. The importance of studying semiconductor surfaces lies in their technological usage. The mathematical construction of a three-dimensional direct space lattice can be translated into an equivalent three-dimensional reciprocal space lattice. A crystal, or crystalline solid, is a regular three-dimensional arrangement of atoms. The concept of a lattice is useful in describing the arrangement of atoms in a crystal. The zincblende structure turns into the diamond crystal structure when the two basis atoms are identical. This crystal structure, therefore, is characterised by a centre-of-inversion at the midpoint between the two basis atoms. An operation carried out about an axis passing through a point in space which brings the crystal structure into itself while leaving the point fixed is called a point symmetry operation. There are two types of space groups: symmorphic and non-symmorphic.
