Electrons in Metals and Semiconductors

ISBN-13: 9780412368400 / Angielski / Miękka / 1990 / 240 str.

R. G. Chambers

Opis

Solid-state physics has for many years been one of the largest and most active areas of research in physics, and the physics of metals and semiconductors has in turn been one of the largest and most active areas in solid-state physics. Despite this, it is an area in which new and quite unexpected phenomena - such as the quantum Hall effect - are still being discovered, and in which many things are not yet fully understood. It forms an essential part of any undergraduate physics course. A number of textbooks on solid-state physics have appeared over the years and, because the subject has now grown so large, the books too have usually been large. By aiming at a more limited range of topics, I have tried in this book to cover them within a reasonably small compass. But I have also tried to avoid the phrase 'It can be shown that. . . ', as far as possible, and instead to explain to the reader just why things are the way they are; and sometimes this takes a little longer. I hope that some readers at least will find this approach helpful. 1 The free-electron model 1. 1 THE CLASSICAL DRUDE THEORY The characteristic properties of metals and semiconductors are due to their conduction electrons: the electrons in the outermost atomic shells, which in the solid state are no longer bound to individual atoms, but are free to wander through the solid.

Spis treści

1 The free-electron model.- 1.1 The classical Drude theory.- 1.2 Fermi—Dirac statistics.- 1.3 The Sommerfeld model.- 1.4 The density of states.- 2 Properties of free-electron solids.- 2.1 The electronic heat capacity.- 2.2 The magnetic susceptibility.- 2.3 Transport properties.- 2.4 Hall effect and magnetoresistance.- 2.5 Relaxation effects: high-frequency conductivity.- 2.6 Metals and semiconductors.- 3 Crystal structures and the reciprocal lattice.- 3.1 Crystal structures.- 3.2 The reciprocal lattice.- 4 Electrons in a periodic potential.- 4.1 Bloch’s theorem.- 4.2 The Brillouin zone.- 4.3 Nearly free electrons.- 5 Electronic band structures.- 5.1 The band structure of real metals.- 5.2 Metals, semiconductors and insulators.- 5.3 Density of states and heat capacity.- 6 The potential V(r); many-body effects.- 6.1 The one-electron approximation and the choice of V(r).- 6.2 Many-body effects.- 7 The dynamics of Bloch electrons.- 7.1 The velocity and the Lorentz force.- 7.2 Orbits in a magnetic field.- 7.3 Orbit quantization.- 7.4 The de Haas—van Alphen effect.- 8 Collisions.- 8.1 Scattering by static defects.- 8.2 Phonon scattering.- 8.3 Relaxation times and mean free paths.- 9 Electrical conductivity of metals.- 9.1 The basic expression for ?.- 9.2 Temperature dependence of ?.- 9.3 Matthiessen’s rule.- 9.4 The Kondo effect.- 10 Metals in a temperature gradient.- 10.1 Thermal conductivity.- 10.2 Thermoelectric effects.- 11 Magnetoresistance and Hall effect.- 11.1 Basic ideas: the free-electron model.- 11.2 Real metals.- 12 Radio-frequency, optical and other properties.- 12.1 Radio-frequency properties.- 12.2 Optical and other properties.- 13 Carriers in semiconductors.- 13.1 The number of carriers.- 13.2 Donors and acceptors.- 13.3 Carrier mobilities and positive holes.- 14 Transport properties of semiconductors.- 14.1 Scattering.- 14.2 Simple transport properties.- 14.3 Cyclotron resonance and optical properties.- 14.4 Orbit quantization and the quantum Hall effect.- 15 Other topics.- 15.1 Charge density waves.- 15.2 Disordered alloys.- 15.3 Localization.- Problems.- Answers to problems.- Further reading.