The crystal structure of Al7O3N5 was characterized by laboratory X-ray powder diffraction (CuKα1). The title compound is trigonal with a space group R3m (centrosymmetric). The hexagonal unit-cell dimensions (Z = 3) are a = 0.305 06(1) nm, c = 5.7216(1) nm, and V = 0.461 11(2) nm3. The initial structural model was derived by the charge-flipping method and refined by the Rietveld method. The final structural model showed the positional disordering of two of the four Al sites. The maximum-entropy method-based pattern fitting method was used to confirm the validity of the split-atom model, in which conventional structure bias caused by assuming intensity partitioning was minimized. The disordered crystal structure was successfully described by overlapping five types of domains with ordered atom arrangements. The distribution of atomic positions in one of the five types of domains can be achieved in the space group R3m. The atom arrangements in the four other domains are non-centrosymmetric with the space group R3m. Two of the four types of domains are related by a pseudo-symmetrical inversion, and the two remaining domains also have each other in the inversion pseudo-symmetry.

Crystal structure of Ca1-x/2AlSi(N3-xOx):Eu2+ (x ∼ 0.11) has been characterized using an X-ray powder diffractometer and a transmission electron microscope equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray analyzer (EDX) and an electron energy loss spectrometer (EELS). The title compound is orthorhombic with space group Cmc21, Z = 4, unit-cell dimensions a = 0.979780(7) nm, b = 0.565197(4) nm, c = 0.506356(3) nm, and V = 0.280404(3) nm3. The atom ratio Al:Si was determined to be 1:1 by EDX, and the presence of O atoms in the crystal structure was confirmed by EELS. The x-value and the atomic coordinates of the final structural model were determined by the Rietveld method. The maximum-entropy methods-based pattern fitting (MPF) method was used to confirm the validity of the structural model, in which conventional structure bias caused by assuming intensity partitioning was minimized. The reliability indices calculated from MPF are Rwp = 9.18%, S = 1.17, Rp = 6.77%, RB = 1.91%, and RF = 0.86%. Atomic arrangements of the final structural model are in an excellent agreement with the three dimensional electron-density distributions determined by MPF.