mixture of two crystalline (crystal) solids that coexist as a new crystalline solid. The mixing is usually accomplished by combining the two solids when they have been melted into liquids at high temperatures and then cooling the result to form the new solid. As with liquids, solids have different degrees of mutual solubility, depending on their chemical properties and crystalline structure, which determine how their atoms substitute for each other. The substances may be nearly mutually insoluble, as between water and kerosene, or they may be soluble over a partial range of relative concentrations, or even a complete range, such as water and alcohol. When there is solubility over a range of compositions, the result is a solid-solution series, with properties that vary continuously over the series.

Many minerals occur as solid solutions, such as the forsterite-fayalite series of olivine minerals, whose members vary chemically from forsterite, a magnesium silicate (Mg₂SiO₄), to fayalite, an iron silicate (Fe₂SiO₄). The crystalline structure of the intermediate members is the same as that of the end members, and the physical properties show complete gradation from those of forsterite to those of fayalite. Solid solutions of semiconductors (semiconductor) are of great technological value, as in the combination of gallium arsenide (GaAs) with gallium phosphide (GaP) or aluminum arsenide (AlAs). The properties of either of these solid solutions can be tuned to values between those of the end compounds by adjusting the relative proportions of the compounds, which makes the mixed materials highly useful for a variety of electronic and optical devices such as light-emitting diodes (light-emitting diode) (LEDs).