"Fermi level" is the term used to describe the top of the collection of
electron energy levels at absolute zero temperature. This concept
comes from Fermi-Dirac statistics. Electrons are fermions and by
thePauli exclusion principle cannot exist in identical energy states. So
at absolute zero they pack into the lowest available energy states and
build up a "Fermi sea" of electron energy states. The Fermi level is the
surface of that sea at absolute zero where no electrons will have
enough energy to rise above the surface. The concept of the Fermi
energy is a crucially important concept for the understanding of the
electrical and thermal properties of solids. Both ordinary electrical and
thermal processes involve energies of a small fraction of an electron
volt. But the Fermi energies of metals are on the order of electron
volts. This implies that the vast majority of the electrons cannot receive
energy from those processes because there are no available energy Index
states for them to go to within a fraction of an electron volt of their
present energy. Limited to a tiny depth of energy, these interactions are Semiconductor
limited to "ripples on the Fermi sea". concepts
Table
The basic nature of this function dictates that at ordinary temperatures, most of
the levels up to the Fermi level EF are filled, and relatively few electrons have
energies above the Fermi level. The Fermi level is on the order of electron volts
(e.g., 7 eV for copper), whereas the thermal energy kT is only about 0.026 eV
at 300K. If you put those numbers into the Fermi function at ordinary Index
temperatures, you find that its value is essentially 1 up to the Fermil level, and
rapidly approaches zero above it. Semiconductor
concepts
Sifat dasar fungsi ini menyatakan bahwa pada suhu biasa, sebagian besar
tingkat ke tingkat EF Fermi diisi, dan relatif sedikit elektron memiliki energi di Semiconductors
atas tingkat Fermi. Tingkat Fermi adalah di urutan volt elektron (misalnya, 7 for electronics
eV untuk tembaga), sedangkan energi panas kT hanya sekitar 0,026 eV di
300K. Jika Anda menempatkan angka-angka ke dalam fungsi Fermi pada suhu
biasa, Anda menemukan bahwa nilai dasarnya 1 sampai ke tingkat Fermi, dan
cepat mendekati nol di atasnya.
The illustration below shows the implications of the Fermi function for the
electrical conductivity of a semiconductor. The band theory of solids gives the
picture that there is a sizable gap between the Fermi level and the conduction
band of the semiconductor. At higher temperatures, a larger fraction of the
electrons can bridge this gap and participate in electrical conduction.
Index
Show Semiconductors
for electronics
where Reference
Simpson
Sec 4.7
For a semiconductor with bandgap eV (1.1 eV for Si, 0.72 eV for Ge)
at temperature K= °C
You could use this calculation to verify that the conduction electron population
Ncb in germanium doubles for about a 13 degree rise in temperature. For
silicon, Ncb doubles for about an 8 degree rise in temperature. Because of the
larger band gap, there will be fewer conduction electrons in silicon than
germanium for any given temperature.
Applied
statistics
concepts
The significance of the Fermi energy is most clearly seem by setting T=0. At
absolute zero, the probability is =1 for energies less than the Fermi energy
and zero for energies greater than the Fermi energy. We picture all the levels
up to the Fermi energy as filled, but no particle has a greater energy. This is
entirely consistent with the Pauli exclusion principle where each quantum
state can have one but only one particle.
Arti penting dari energi Fermi yang paling jelas tampak dengan menetapkan T
= 0. Pada nol mutlak, probabilitas adalah = 1 untuk energi kurang dari energi
Fermi dan nol untuk energi lebih besar dari energi Fermi. Kami
membayangkan semua tingkat hingga energi Fermi sebagai diisi, tetapi tidak
ada partikel memiliki energi yang lebih besar. Hal ini sepenuhnya konsisten
dengan prinsip eksklusi Pauli di mana setiap negara kuantum dapat memiliki
satu tetapi hanya satu partikel.
Distribution functions Numerical example
Fermi level in solids Fermi level in band theory of solids
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Index
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Conduction Electron Population for
Semiconductor
Semiconductors
for electronics
Reference
This can be simplified by noting that for the energies of the conduction band, Simpson
E-EF>>1, so the 1 in the denominator of the Fermi function becomes Sec 4.7
insignificant. I.e., the tail of the function which extends into the conduction
band is so far out that it can be approximated by the Boltzmann function. Using
the fact that
EF = Egap/2
The total number of electrons in the conduction band, Ncb, can then be obtained
by integrating the above function from the bottom of the conduction band
upward. For all practical purposes, the upper limit of the integral can be taken
to be infinity since by the time we reach the top of the conduction band, the
integrand will be essentially zero.
Calculation
Tidak ada dua elektron dalam atom dapat memiliki bilangan kuantum yang sama. Ini adalah contoh
dari prinsip umum yang berlaku tidak hanya untuk elektron tetapi juga untuk partikel lain dari
setengah bulat berputar (fermion). Ini tidak berlaku untuk partikel integer berputar (boson).
The wave function for the state in which both states "a" and "b" are occupied by the electrons
can be written
Fungsi gelombang untuk suatu keadaan di mana keduanya menyatakan "a" dan "b" ditempati
oleh elektron dapat ditulis
The Pauli exclusion principle is part of one of our most basic observations of nature: particles
of half-integer spin must have antisymmetric wavefunctions, and particles of integer spin must
have symmetric wavefunctions. The minus sign in the above relationship forces the
wavefunction to vanish identically if both states are "a" or "b", implying that it is impossible
for both electrons to occupy the same state.
Pauli prinsip eksklusi adalah bagian dari salah satu pengamatan yang paling dasar kita tentang
alam: partikel setengah bulat berputar harus memiliki fungsi gelombang antisimetrik, dan
partikel integer berputar harus memiliki fungsi gelombang simetris. Tanda minus dalam
hubungan atas memaksa fungsi gelombang menghilang identik jika kedua negara adalah "a"
atau "b", menyiratkan bahwa tidak mungkin untuk kedua elektron untuk menempati keadaan
yang sama.
Applications
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Pauli Exclusion Principle Applications
Click on any of the bold text for links to further details.
Index
Atomic
Structure
Concepts
Ionic bonding
Covalent bonding
Pauli principle role in:
Nuclear shell structure
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Spin Classification
One essential parameter for classification of particles is their "spin" orintrinsic
angular momentum. Half-integer spin fermions are constrained by the Pauli
exclusion principle whereas integer spin bosons are not. Theelectron is a
Index
fermion with electron spin 1/2.
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Fermions
Fermions are particles which have half-integer spin and therefore are
constrained by the Pauli exclusion principle. Particles with integer spin are
called bosons. Fermions include electrons, protons, neutrons. The
wavefunction which describes a collection of fermions must be antisymmetric
with respect to the exchange of identical particles, while the wavefunction for
a collection of bosons is symmetric. Index
The fact that electrons are fermions is foundational to the buildup of the
periodic table of the elements since there can be only one electron for each
state in an atom (only one electron for each possible set of quantum numbers).
The fermion nature of electrons also governs the behavior of electrons in a
metal where at low temperatures all the low energy states are filled up to a
level called the Fermi energy. This filling of states is described by Fermi-Dirac
statistics.
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Bosons
Bosons are particles which have integer spin and which therefore are not
constrained by the Pauli exclusion principle like the half-integer spinfermions.
The energy distribution of bosons is described by Bose-Einstein statistics. The
wavefunction which describes a collection of bosons must be symmetric with
respect to the exchange of identical particles, while the wavefunction for a
collection of fermions is antisymmetric.
Index
At low temperatures, bosons can behave very differently than fermions
because an unlimited number of them can collect into the same energy state.
The collection into a single state is called condensation, or Bose-Einstein
condensation. It is responsible for the phenomenon of superfluidity in liquid
helium. Coupled particles can also act effectively as bosons. In the BCS
Theory of superconductivity, coupled pairs of electrons act like bosons and
condense into a state which demonstrates zero electrical resistance.
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Bose-Einstein Condensation
In 1924 Einstein pointed out that bosons could "condense" in unlimited
numbers into a single ground state since they are governed by Bose-Einstein
statistics and not constrained by the Pauli exclusion principle. Little notice was
taken of this curious possibility until the anomalous behavior of liquid
helium at low temperatures was studied carefully.
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