Electronic Properties of Crystalline Solids

Book excerpt: Electronic Properties of Crystalline Solids: An Introduction to Fundamentals discusses courses in the electronic properties of solids taught in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Stanford University. The book starts with a brief review of classical wave mechanics, discussing concept of waves and their role in the interactions of electrons, phonons, and photons. The book covers the free electron model for metals, and the origin, derivation, and properties of allowed and forbidden energy bands for electrons in crystalline materials. It also examines transport phenomena and optical effects in crystalline materials, including electrical conductivity, scattering phenomena, thermal conductivity, Hall and thermoelectric effects, magnetoresistance, optical absorption, photoconductivity, and other photoelectronic effects in both ideal and real materials. This book is intended for upper-level undergraduates in a science major, or for first- or second-year graduate students with an interest in the scientific basis for our understanding of properties of materials.