β-Si₃N₄ (Nierite)

Unit cell

Lattice constants

a = 7.609 Å, b = 7.609 Å, c = 2.908 Å; α = 90.00°, β = 90.00°, γ = 120.00°

Cell volume

145.8 ų

Atoms in the conventional cell

14 (N 8, Si 6)

Formula units Z

2

Pearson symbol

hP14 — hexagonal / trigonal, primitive lattice, 14 atoms per conventional cell

Symmetry operations

12 per cell

Crystallographic sites

The multiplicity and the Wyckoff letter say how many copies of the site the group makes in one cell and on which kind of symmetry element the site sits; the 14 atoms drawn above are these sites multiplied by all 12 operations. Press Wyckoff under Colour to see the sites, and tick a symmetry element on the left to see which atoms lie on it.

How to read the label

A4B3_hP14_176_ch_h-001: the stoichiometry comes first (A, B, C… are the elements in alphabetical order of their site labels), then the Pearson symbol hP14, then the space-group number 176, then the Wyckoff letters occupied by each element in turn (N: 2c; N: 6h; Si: 6h). Two structures with the same label are the same arrangement with different cell parameters or coordinates.

Note: \beta-Si₃N₄ (Yang, 1995).

Source

Coordinates and cell from the AFLOW Encyclopedia of Crystallographic Prototypes, entry A4B3_hP14_176_ch_h-001 (M. J. Mehl et al., Comput. Mater. Sci. 136, S1 (2017); D. Hicks et al., ibid. 161, S1 (2019) and 199, 110450 (2021); S. Eckert et al., ibid. 240, 112988 (2024)). Symmetry elements, Wyckoff assignment and the diagram are computed on this page from the group operations.