The Nowotny chimney ladder phases: following the c(pseudo) clue toward an explanation of the 14 electron rule.

Abstract

We account for two empirical rules of the Nowotny chimney ladder phases (NCLs, intermetallic compounds of the form T(t)E(m); T, groups 4-9; E, groups 13-15). The first rule is that for late transition metal NCLs the total number of valence electrons per T atom is 14. The second is the appearance of a pseudoperiodicity with a spacing, c(pseudo), which is directly related to the stoichiometry, T(t)E(m), by (2t - m) c(pseudo)= c. Both rules are accounted for by viewing the NCLs as twinned structures constructed from blocks of the parent compound, RuGa(2) of thickness c(pseudo)/2, with the successive layers rotated relative to each other by 90 degrees. Sterically encumbered E atoms are then deleted at the interfaces between layers, followed by relaxation.