PHY.K02UF Molecular and Solid State Physics

Crystal structure databases and programs to visualize crystal structures

Crystal structure data is often stored in a CIF file. This is a text file that contains the asymmetric unit of the crystal, the symmetries of the space group, and a reference to the source where the data was first published. It is important to check the publication to see the conditions used during the experiment. Some experiments are performed at high temperatures or high pressures where the crystal structure can be different than at room temperature and ambient pressure. The links below will display a crystal structure and it's corresponding CIF file.

Aluminum nitride AlN P63mc #186
Boron nitride BN #194
Calcium titanate CaTiO3 (perovskite) Pm3m #221
Caesium chloride CsCl Pm3m #221
Cementite Fe3C #62
Cobalt Co (hcp) P63/mmc #194
Copper (fcc) Fm3m #255
Copper oxide CO (Tenorite) #15
Corundum Al2O3 R3c #167
Diamond C #227
Gallium antimonide GaSb F43m #216
Gallium arsenide GaAs F43m #216
Gallium nitride GaN P63mc #186
Gallium phosphide GaP F43m #216
Germanium Ge (diamond) #227
Graphite C P63mc #186
Indium antimonide InSb F43m #216
Indium arsenide InAs F43m #216
Indium nitride InN P63mc #186
Indium nitride InN P63mc #186
Iron Fe (bcc) Im3m #229
Magnetite Fe3O4 Fd3m #227
Phosphorus P #64
Polonium Po α (simple cubic) Pm3m #221
Pyrite FeS2 #205
Rutile TiO2 #136
Silicon carbide 2H SiC P63mc #186
Silicon carbide 4H SiC P63mc #186
Silicon carbide 6H SiC P63mc #186
Spinel MgAl2O4 #227
Sr2FeMoO66 (double perovskite) I4/mmm #139
Titanium Ti (hcp) P63/mmc #194
YBa2Cu3O7 #47
ZIF8 #1
Zinc oxide ZnO (rocksalt) Fm3m #225
Zinc oxide ZnO (wurtzite) P63mc #186
ZnS (wurtzite) #186

Open databases of CIF files are:

The TU Graz has subscriptions to the following crystal databases which can be used from a computer in the TU Graz domain:

Freely available programs that can be used to draw crystals in 3D and calculate their diffraction patterns are Mercury and PowderCell.