Crystal structure refinement of ReSi1.75 with an ordered arrangement of silicon vacancies

The crystal structure and microstructure of ReSi1.75 were investigated by synchrotron X-ray diffraction combined with scanning transmission electron microscopy. ReSi1.75 contains an ordered arrangement of vacancies in Si sites in the underlying tetragonal C11(b) lattice of the MoSi2-type and the crystal structure is monoclinic with the space group Cm. Atomic positions of Si atoms near vacancies are considerably displaced from the corresponding positions in the parent C11(b) structure, and they exhibit anomalously large local thermal vibration accompanied by large values of atomic displacement parameter. There are four differently-oriented domains with two of them being related to each other by the 90 degrees rotation about the c-axis of the underlying C11(b) lattice and the other two being their respective twins. The habit planes for domain boundaries observed experimentally are consistent with those predicted with ferroelastic theory.