CLASSIFICATION OF SOLIDS
ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES
Some solids conduct current at all temperatures and, generally, the resistivity of such solids increases with temperature. These are METALS Other solids stop conducting at low temperatures and their resistivity falls with increasing temperature. These INSULATORS and SEMICONDUCTORS
The common physical properties of metals; Great physical strength High density Good electrical and thermal conductivity, etc. This chapter will calculate these common properties of metals using the assumption that conduction electrons exist and consist of all valence electrons from all the metals; thus metallic Na, Mg and Al will be assumed to have 1, 2 and 3 mobile electrons per atom respectively. A simple theory of free electron model which works remarkably well will be described to explain these properties of metals.
According to free electron model (FEM), the valance electrons are responsible for the conduction of electricity, and for this reason these electrons are termed conduction electrons. Na11 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s1
Core electrons Valance electron (loosely bound)
This valance electron, which occupies the third atomic shell, is the electron which is responsible chemical properties of Na.
Na metal
Na has a BCC structure and the distance between nearest neighbours is 3.7 A
y
Solid state of Na atoms overlap slightly. From this observation it follows that a valance electron is no longer attached to a particular ion, but belongs to both neighbouring ions at the same time.
A valance electron really belongs to the whole crystal, since it can move readily from one ion to its neighbour, and then the neighbours neighbour, and so on. This mobile electron becomes a conduction electron in a solid.
y
+ + +
Classical
Postulates of CFEM
In an atom electrons revolve around the nucleus and a metal is composed of such atoms
The valence electrons of atoms are free to move about the whole volume of the metals like the molecule of a perfect gas in container . The collection of valence electrons from all the atoms in a given piece of metal forms electron gas .it is free to move throughout the volume of the metal.
+ + +
These free electrons move in random directions and collide with either positive ions fixed to the lattice or other free electrons. All collisions are elastic.
During every collision both the direction And the magnitude of velocity change.
The movements of free electrons obey the laws of the classical kinetic theory of gases .
CFET
The electron velocities in a metal obey the M-B distribution of velocities . The free electron move in a completely uniform potential field due to ions fixed in the lattice . When an electric field is applied to the metal ,the free electrons are accelerated in the direction of opposite applied electric field.
12
ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY
** The current is due to the motion of the conduction electrons under the influence of the electric field. ** The field E exerts a force eE on the electron
When an external field applied the electrons accelerated. Here we consider the frictional force acting on the electron due to the collision. If Yis the velocity of the electron and is the time between two consective collisions The frictional force can be written as Y
F ! m
dY !0 dt eX Y! E m
If n is the number of conduction per unit volume ,then the charge per unit volume is (ne).The amount of charge crossing a unit area per unit time is given by the current density J
eX J ! ( ne)Y d ! ne( E) m ne 2X E ! m J ! WE ne 2X W! m
Mean Free Path: The average distance traveled by an electron between two successive collision in the presence of applied field is known as Mean Free Path
RELAXATION TIME
Relaxation Time can be defined as the time taken for the drift velocity to decay to 1/e of its initial value.
Let assume that the applied field is cut off after the drift velocity of the electron has reached its steady value.Drift velocity after this instant is governed by
dY d Y ! m m dt X dY d dt ! Yd X Y d (t ) ! Y d (0) exp(t / X )
RELAXATION TIME
Vd(0)
vd
MOBILITY
Mobility of the electron is defined as the steady state drift velocity<vd> per unit electric field.
The electrical conductivity depends on two factors ,the charge density n and their mobility . These two quantities depend on temperature. In metals n is constant and decreases slightly with temperature and hence with increase of temperature ,the conductivity decreases.
In semiconductors the exponential increase of n with temperature is responsible for increase of conductivity with temperature In insulator n remains constant and above certain temperature increase exponentially resulting in dielectric breakdown
This theory is proposed by Sommerfeld in 1928,with help of quantum of statistics (Fermi-Dirac) explained QFET. The difficulty of classical FET arises M-B it permits all the free electrons to gain energy. But in Quantum Statistics turn out that only about one percent of the free electron to gain a energy
Free electron moving in uniform potential within in a metal .potential field inside the metal not uniform. But instead ,the field experienced by a moving free electrons varies periodically with the periodicity of the crystal. To determine the restriction imposed by quantum mechanics the energies that free electron can have inside the metal
V(x)
2 Jk 2 n 2 h 2 E ( n) ! ! 2 2m 8mL
X=0
X=L
dp eE ! dt h h 2T v !J p! ! k P 2T P d dk ( eE ! (J) ! J ) k dt dt eE dk ! dt J
This Means that origin of the k space moves through a distance dk in time dt on application of external field. Because of collision with imperfection, displacement of k space becomes steady k and dt is then the average collision time
(Y !
ne 2X W! m
This treatment tell us that current carried out by very few electrons
neutral gas, and their total energy depends on the temperature and applied field In the absence of an electrical field, electrons move with randomly distributed thermal velocities When an electric field is applied, electrons acquire a net drift velocity in the direction opposite to the field
Electron energy levels are discrete (quantized) and well defined, so average energy of electron is not equal to (3/2)kBT Electrons occupy energy levels according to Paulis exclusion principle Electrons acquire additional energy when electric field is applied
FERMI-DIRAC DISTRIBUTION
. The Fermi function f(E) specifies how many of the existing states at the energy E will be filled with electrons. The function f(E) specifies, under equilibrium conditions, the probability that an available state at an energy E will be occupied by an electron. It is a probability distribution function.
EF = Fermi energy or Fermi level k = Boltzmann constant = 1.38v 1023 J/K = 8.6 v 105 eV/K T = absolute temperature in K
At a temperature T the probability of occupation of an electron state of energy E is given by the Fermi distribution function
f FD !
1 1 e ( E EF ) / k B T
Fermi distribution function determines the probability of finding an electron at the energy E.
At a temperature T the probability of occupation of an electron state of energy E is given by the Fermi distribution function
f FD !
1 1 e ( E EF ) / k B T
Fermi distribution function determines the probability of finding an electron at the energy E.
For E > EF :
For E < EF : E
EF
f(E)
fFD=? At 0K
fFD(E,T)
i. E<EF
f FD ! 1 e
1
( E EF ) / k BT
!1
0.5
ii. E>EF
f FD !
E E<EF EF E>EF
1
( E EF ) / k B T
1 e
!0
FERMI-DIRAC DISTRIBUTION
FUNCTION AT VARIOUS TEMPERATURES,
At any temperature other than 0k,if E=Ef F(E)=1/2 Fermi level is that state at which the probability of electron occupation is at any temperature above 0k and also it is the highest level of the filled energy state at 0k