Compound semiconductors such as GaAs and InP have a crystal structure that is similar to that of diamond. However, the lattice contains two different types of atoms. This structure is referred to as the zinc-blende lattice, named after zinc-blende (ZnS) and is shown in Fig.3.5, where the two different colors are showing different elements.

Another important geometric feature of a crystal structure is the nearest distance between atom centers (often called the nearest-neighbor distance). This distance is a for the SC lattice, (half of a body diagonal) in the BCC lattice, and (half of a face diagonal) for the FCC lattice.