Resistance calculation of the face-centered cubic lattice: Theory and experiment

M. Q. Owaidat

Citation: American Journal of Physics 81, 918 (2013); doi: 10.1119/1.4826256
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Resistance calculation of the face-centered cubic lattice: Theory and
experiment
M. Q. Owaidat
a)
Department of Physics, Al-Hussein Bin Talal University, Maan 71111, Jordan
(Received 11 March 2013; accepted 7 October 2013)
The effective resistance between two arbitrary lattice points in an innite, face-centered cubic
lattice network of identical resistors is calculated using the lattice Greens function method.
Theoretical results have been veried experimentally by constructing actual nite networks of
resistors. This problem could be useful in undergraduate courses (e.g., advanced mathematical
methods course) and would provide a good example for introducing the concept of Greens
function. VC
2013 American Association of Physics Teachers.
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1119/1.4826256]
I. INTRODUCTION
The determination of the effective resistance between any
two nodes on an innite lattice network of identical resistors
is a problem of considerable interest in electric circuit
theory. The problem has been studied extensively by many
authors using several methods.
15
Recently, Cserti
5
pre-
sented an elegant method to calculate the resistance between
two arbitrary nodes for innite lattice networks. This
approach is based on the lattice Greens function of the
Laplacian operator on the difference equations governed by
Ohms and Kirchhoffs laws. Cserti et al.
6
have also applied
the Greens function method to the problem of a perturbed
network obtained by removing one bond from the perfect
lattice.
The Greens function is a versatile tool in many areas of
theoretical physics. It provides, for example, a powerful
method for solving linear problems involving a differential
equation. (Excellent introductions to Green functions can be
found in Barton,
7
Duffy,
8
and Economou.
9
) The lattice
Greens function is often used in condensed matter,
10
with
good discussions of such uses in the aforementioned referen-
ces.
5,6
Greens functions also appear when the nite differ-
ence approximation is used to solve partial differential
equations.
Based on the lattice Greens function method,
6
other per-
turbations to the resistor network are considered, such as
changing the value of one resistor in the perfect lattice
11
and
introducing an extra resistor between two arbitrary nodes in
the perfect lattice.
12
The Greens function method is also a
useful tool for calculating the capacitance of a perfect and
a perturbed capacitor network.
13,14
For a nite resistor
network, Wu
15
has developed a general formulation for com-
puting two-point resistances in a network in terms of the
eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of the Laplacian matrix.
More recently, Cserti et al.
16
have presented a general for-
malism for calculating the resistance between any two lattice
points in any innite lattice structure of resistors that is a
periodic tiling of space using lattice Greens function.
In this work, we present an application of the general
lattice Greens function method;
16
namely, we calculate the
resistance between any two grid points in a face-centered
cubic (FCC) lattice network constructed of electrical resis-
tors (see Fig. 1). In addition to resistors on the edges of the
cubes, there are resistors between the center of each face of
the cube and its corners. The unit cell is a cube containing
four lattice points: one at one of the corners of the cube and
the others at the three face-centers of the cube nearest the
corner lattice point.
A difference between our calculation and that of Asad
et al.
17
pertains to exactly which lattice points are connected
by resistors. Their system consisted of an FCC resistor net-
work formed using resistors only between the center of each
face of the cube and its corners, with none on the edges of the
cube (see Fig. 2). Their unit cell contains one lattice point
and they calculated the two-point resistance using the exact
values for the FCC lattice Greens functions given in Ref. 18.
The FCC resistor network in this paper can systematically
be treated by the Laplacian matrix of the difference equa-
tions governed by Ohms and Kirchhoffs laws, as we will
show in the next section. The lattice Greens function is then
dened as the solution to these difference equations corre-
sponding to the Laplacian matrix and can be related to the re-
sistance between two arbitrary nodes on a resistor network.
We believe that the Greens function method is a highly
effective technique for the present problem, even in cases
when other methods
14
face extreme difculties. Further,
networks of resistors may serve as a didactic example for
introducing the Greens function method, as well as other
basic concepts (such as the Brillouin zone) used in solid state
physics.
The paper is organized as follows. In Sec. II, we present
analogies between a resistor network and a crystal lattice. In
Sec. III, the Greens function and the resistance for an FCC
resistor network are presented. In Sec. IV, some numerical and
experimental results regarding the resistance are presented and
discussed. Finally, a brief conclusion is given in Sec. V.
II. AN ANALOGY BETWEEN A RESISTOR
NETWORK AND CRYSTAL
In this section, we dene many basic analogies between a
resistor network and a crystal, such as the lattice point, the
unit cell, the reciprocal lattice and the Brillouin zone.
1921
A
lattice point is a node on a resistor network where two or
more resistors meet. A unit cell of resistors is the smallest col-
lection of lattice points that can be repeated by translation
symmetry to create a periodic resistor network. The position
vector of any lattice point of the d-dimensional regular resistor
network is given by r n
1
a
1
n
2
a
2
n
d
a
d
, where n
i
are integers and a
1
; a
2
; ; a
d
are the unit cell vectors.
As in solid state physics, in order to dene the Brillouin
zone in a periodic resistor network we need to rst dene the
reciprocal lattice. Assuming periodic boundary conditions
918 Am. J. Phys. 81 (12), December 2013 http://aapt.org/ajp VC
2013 American Association of Physics Teachers 918
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requires that the Fourier series expansion of the potential and
the current at any lattice point are given in terms of plane
waves e
ikr
.
The lattice in the Fourier space (or k-space) is called the
reciprocal lattice and is also perfectly periodic with a
translation symmetry of the set fb
i
g, dening arbitrary recip-
rocal lattice vectors as k m
1
b
1
m
2
b
2
m
d
b
d
,
where m
i
are integers and the reciprocal lattice vectors b
i
are
dened by a
i
b
j
2pd
ij
(for i; j 1; 2; ; d). The rst
Brillouin zone is dened as the unit cell in the reciprocal lat-
tice. The zone boundaries are the wave vectors k
i
between
p=a
i
and p=a
i
.
III. GREENS FUNCTIONS AND RESISTANCES FOR
FCC NETWORK
Consider an innite, face-centered cubic lattice composed
of identical resistances R as shown in Fig. 1. The unit cell
contains four lattice points labeled by a A; B; C; D. The
lattice points can be specied by the lattice vector
r la
1
ma
2
na
3
, where a
1
, a
2
, and a
3
are the unit cell
vectors and l, m, and n are integers. We let fr; ag denote an
arbitrary lattice point, where r and a specify the unit cell and
the lattice point in the given unit cell, and I
a
r and V
a
r
denote the current and potential at point fr; ag. It is assumed
that a net current I
a
r enters the site fr; ag from a source
outside the lattice.
Applying Kirchhoffs current rule to node fr; Ag (see
Fig. 3) gives
I
A
r I
1
I
2
I
3
I
18
: (1)
Using Ohms law, Eq. (1) can be written as the nite differ-
ence equation
RI
A
r V
A
r V
A
r a
1
V
A
r V
A
r a
1

V
A
r V
A
r a
2
V
A
r V
A
r a
2

V
A
r V
A
r a
3
V
A
r V
A
r a
3

V
A
r V
B
r V
A
r V
B
r a
1

V
A
r V
B
r a
2

V
A
r V
B
r a
1
a
2

V
A
r V
C
r V
A
r V
C
r a
2

V
A
r V
C
r a
3

V
A
r V
C
r a
2
a
3

V
A
r V
D
r V
A
r V
D
r a
1

V
A
r V
D
r a
3

V
A
r V
D
r a
1
a
3
: (2)
In a similar manner, the currents at nodes fr; Bg, fr; Cg, and
fr; Dg are given by
RI
B
r V
B
r V
A
r V
B
r V
A
r a
1

V
B
r V
A
r a
2

V
B
r V
A
r a
1
a
2
; (3)
Fig. 2. A face-centered cubic lattice resistor network with no resistors along
the cube edges. In the unit cell there is one lattice point at a corner of the
cube. The three unit vectors point from a corner of the cube to the centers of
the three cubic faces.
Fig. 1. The face-centered cubic (FCC) lattice resistor network considered in
this paper. In addition to resistors on the edges of the cube, there are resistors
between the center of each face and its four corners. Each unit cell contains
four lattice points labeled by a A; B; C; D. The unit cell vectors are a
1
, a
2
,
and a
3
.
Fig. 3. The current I
A
r enters the node fr; Ag from a source outside the lat-
tice and passes through the 18 resistors connected to the point fr; Ag.
919 Am. J. Phys., Vol. 81, No. 12, December 2013 M. Q. Owaidat 919
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RI
C
r V
C
r V
A
r V
C
r V
A
r a
2

V
C
r V
A
r a
3

V
C
r V
A
r a
2
a
3
; (4)
and
RI
D
r V
D
r V
A
r V
D
r V
A
r a
1

V
D
r V
A
r a
3

V
D
r V
A
r a
1
a
3
: (5)
Equations (2)(5) can be written in the form
X
r
0
;b
L
ab
r r
0
V
b
r
0
I
a
r; (6)
where L
ab
r r
0
is a 4 4 matrix called the Laplacian ma-
trix, with a, b A; B; C; D. The discrete Fourier transforms
of the current and potential are
I
a
k
X
r
I
a
re
ikr
(7)
and
V
a
k
X
r
V
a
re
ikr
; (8)
where a A; B; C; D, and k is the wave vector in the recipro-
cal lattice and is limited to the rst Brillouin zone.
1921
The general expressions for the inverse Fourier transform
of the current and potential are given by
I
a
r =
1
I
a
k
X
0
2p
3

p=a
1
p=a
1

p=a
2
p=a
2

p=a
3
p=a
3
I
a
ke
ikr
dk
(9)
and
V
a
r =
1
V
a
k

X
0
2p
3

p=a
1
p=a
1

p=a
2
p=a
2

p=a
3
p=a
3
V
a
ke
ikr
dk; (10)
where X
0
a
1
a
2
a
3
is the volume of the unit cell. Thus, we
may rewrite Eqs. (2)(5) as
Lk
V
A
k
V
B
k
V
C
k
V
D
k
2
6
6
6
6
6
6
4
3
7
7
7
7
7
7
5

I
A
k
I
B
k
I
C
k
I
D
k
2
6
6
6
6
6
6
4
3
7
7
7
7
7
7
5
; (11)
where Lk is the Fourier transform of the Laplacian matrix,
given by the 4 4 matrix
Lk
1
R
x 18 c
1
c
2

c
2
c
3

c
1
c
3

c
1
c
2
4 0 0
c
2
c
3
0 4 0
c
1
c
3
0 0 4
2
6
6
6
6
6
4
3
7
7
7
7
7
5
; (12)
where x2cos k a
1
cos k a
2
cos k a
3
and c
j
1e
ika
j
(with j 1;2;3).
The lattice Greens function Gk is a 4 4 matrix corre-
sponding to the Fourier transform of the Laplacian matrix
Lk, dened by Gk L
1
k. The matrix Gk can be
calculated to give
Gk
4
Dk
16 4c

12
4c

23
4c

13
4c
12
72 4x c
13
c

13
c
23
c

23
c
12
c

23
c
12
c

13
4c
23
c

12
c
23
72 4x c
12
c

12
c
13
c

13
c
23
c

13
4c
13
c

12
c
13
c
13
c

23
72 4x c
12
c

12
c
23
c

23
2
6
6
6
6
6
6
4
3
7
7
7
7
7
7
5
; (13)
where c
12
c
1
c
2
, c
23
c
2
c
3
, c
13
c
1
c
3
and Dk 1672 4x c
12
c

12
c
13
c

13
c
23
c

23
=R is the determinant of matrix
Lk.
To compute the resistance between the origin f0; ag f0; 0; 0; ag and the site fl; m; n; bg in an innite FCC lattice, we use
the general resistance formula derived in Ref. 16 (with d 3), given by
R
ab
l; m; n

p
p
dh
1
2p

p
p
dh
2
2p

p
p
dh
3
2p

G
aa
h
1
; h
2
; h
3
G
bb
h
1
; h
2
; h
3
G
ab
h
1
; h
2
; h
3
e
ilh
1
mh
2
nh
3

G
ba
h
1
; h
2
; h
3
e
ilh
1
mh
2
nh
3

g; (14)
where h
i
k a
i
(with i 1; 2; 3) and G
ab
h
1
; h
2
; h
3
(with a; b A; B; C; D), as given in Eq. (13).
920 Am. J. Phys., Vol. 81, No. 12, December 2013 M. Q. Owaidat 920
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IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
A. Numerical results
The resistance between any two nodes can be calculated numerically from Eq. (14). As an example, the resistance between
second neighbor nodes f0; Ag and f1; 0; 0; Ag that belong to adjacent unit cellsthe resistance across the edge of a cubeis
given by
R
AA
1; 0; 0 R

p
p
dh
1
2p

p
p
dh
2
2p

p
p
dh
3
2p

1 cos h
1
9 cos h
1
cos h
2
cos h
3
2 cos
2
h
1
2
cos
2
h
2
2
2 cos
2
h
1
2
cos
2
h
3
2
2 cos
2
h
2
2
cos
2
h
3
2
: (15)
This integral can be evaluated to give R
AA
1; 0; 0 0:129686R. It is worth mentioning that this cube-edge resistance
R
AA
1; 0; 0 is much smaller than that in the simple cubic lattice
4,5
(R=3) and also less than that in the body-centered cubic lat-
tice
16
(0:1481R). This is expected because the current has more branches in the face-centered cubic lattice. As another exam-
ple, the resistance between nearest neighbor points f0; Ag and f0; Bgbetween lattice points A and B that belong to the same
unit cellis
R
AB
0; 0; 0 R

p
p
dh
1
2p

p
p
dh
2
2p

p
p
dh
3
2p

11 cos h
1
cos h
2
cos h
3
2 cos
2
h
1
2
cos
2
h
3
2
2 cos
2
h
2
2
cos
2
h
3
2
4 cos
h
1
h
2
2

cos
h
1
2
cos
h
2
2
4 9 cos h
1
cos h
2
cos h
3
2 cos
2
h
1
2
cos
2
h
2
2
2 cos
2
h
1
2
cos
2
h
3
2
2 cos
2
h
2
2
cos
2
h
3
2
;
(16)
which evaluates to 0:300912R. From the lattice symmetry,
we have R
AB
0; 0; 0 R
AC
0; 0; 0 R
AD
0; 0; 0, and
R
BC
0; 0; 0 R
BD
0; 0; 0 R
CD
0; 0; 0. Numerical values
for some additional effective resistances are listed in Table I.
B. Experimental results
To experimentally study this situation, we constructed two
nite FCC resistor networks of different sizes (5 5 5 and
7 7 7) using 1-kX (65%) resistors. We began by using a
high-precision multimeter to measure the individual resistan-
ces of 2000 resistors for the 5 5 5 grid and 4000 resistors
for the 7 7 7 grid, obtaining averages and standard
deviations of 0:975 60:007 kX and 0:978 60:005 kX,
respectively. Resistance measurements are then performed
between the origin f0; 0; 0; ag and the site fl; m; n; bg in the
FCC networks.
Table I. Numerical and experimental values of the resistances R
ab
l; m; n
for an FCC lattice of resistors of value R (values given in terms of R). The
numerical values are for an innite lattice, and the experimental values
are for nite 5 5 5 and 7 7 7 FCC lattices. In the experiment, the
individual resistances are R 0:975 kX for the 5 5 5 FCC lattice and
R 0:978 kX for the 7 7 7 FCC lattice. The values in parentheses are
the deviations from the innite lattice values.
R
ab
l; m; n Infinite
Experimental results
(in units of R) lattice 5 5 5 7 7 7
R
AB
0; 0; 0 0.300912 0.309744 (2.94%) 0.301389 (0.16%)
R
BC
0; 0; 0 0.521738 0.533333 (2.22%) 0.522068 (0.06%)
R
AA
1; 0; 0 0.129686 0.135385 (4.39%) 0.130772 (0.84%)
R
BB
1; 0; 0 0.523657 0.541539 (3.42%) 0.525133 (0.28%)
R
AA
1; 1; 0 0.147921 0.157949 (6.78%) 0.150184 (1.53%)
R
AA
1; 1; 1 0.155672 0.176410 (13.32%) 0.159379 (2.38%)
R
AB
1; 0; 0 0.348226 0.366154 (5.15%) 0.352472 (1.22%)
R
AB
1; 1; 0 0.358347 0.390769 (9.05%) 0.364732 (1.78%)
R
AA
2; 0; 0 0.157623 0.194872 (23.63%) 0.163466 (3.71%)
R
AA
2; 1; 0 0.16132 0.205128 (27.16%) 0.179812 (11.46%)
R
AA
3; 0; 0 0.167211 0.204332 (22.20%)
Fig. 4. A chart showing the data in Table I.
921 Am. J. Phys., Vol. 81, No. 12, December 2013 M. Q. Owaidat 921
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Table I summarizes our experimental measurements and
compares them to the numerical values for the innite
lattice; these data are also presented graphically in Fig. 4.
In both the table and the gure, these data have been
normalized by the individual resistance values of R
0:975 kX for the 5 5 5 grid and R 0:978 kX for the
7 7 7 grid. It can be seen in the table that the calcu-
lated and measured resistances are in reasonable agreement
near the lattice origin, but become worse as one of the sites
gets closer to the boundaries of the nite lattice. This
discrepancy is due to the nite size of experimental lattice,
which causes the effective resistances to be larger than the
values for an innite network. One can also see that as the
size of the lattice increases, the agreement with the innite
lattice improves.
V. CONCLUSION
Using the general Greens function approach,
16
we calcu-
lated the effective resistance between any two lattice sites in
an innite face-centered cubic network lattice. We compared
numerical results with the measured resistances of an actual
nite FCC network of resistors. We found the theoretical and
experimental results to be consistent within the estimated
error bounds.
a)
Electronic mail: Owaidat@ahu.edu.jo
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