Free electron Fermi gas (Sommerfeld, 1928)

M.C. Chang
Dept of Phys
counting of states
Fermi energy, Fermi surface
thermal property: specific heat
transport property
electrical conductivity, Hall effect
thermal conductivity
In the free electron model, there are neither lattice, nor
electron-electron interaction, but it gives good result on electron
specific heat, electric and thermal conductivities etc.
Free electron model is most accurate for alkali metals.
Energy levels in an empty 1-dim box
Plane wave solution
Box BC
k = k/L, 2k/L, 3k/L
( ) , ( ) / x Ae Be k k m
ikx ikx
+

h
2 2
2
Periodic BC
k = 2k/L, 4k/L, 6k/L
Energy levels in an empty 3-dim box
box BC periodic BC
Different BCs give the same Fermi wave vector and the same energy
box BC periodic BC
Each point can have 2 electrons (because of spin). After filling in N
electrons, the result is a spherical sea of electrons called the Fermi
sphere. Its radius is called the Fermi wave vector, and the energy of the
outermost electron is called the Fermi energy.
Connection between electron density and Fermi energy
For K, the electron density N/V=1.4 10
28
m
-3
,

therefore
Fermi energy and fermi wave vector for typical metals
eV J
F
12 . 2 10 40 . 3
19

1
0.746
F
k A

E
m
N
V
k T
m
v
F B F F

F
H
G
I
K
J

h
2 2
2 3
2
2
3
2

/
e
F
is roughly the order of the atomic binding energy.
k
F
a is of the order of 1.
The Fermi temperature defined by E
F
=kT
F
is of the
order of 10000 K
Density of states (for electrons)
The number of states within the shell bounded by the constant energy
surfaces with energy E and E+dE is D(E)dE
Free electron DOS
and dimension
E
D(E)
3D
2D
1D
3
3
( ) 2
(2 / )
shell
d k
D E dE
L

r
Whats the DOS for free
electron gas in 3 dim?
D E dE
k dk
L
E k
k
m
D E
V m
E
( )
( / )
( )
( )
/

F
H
G
I
K
J
2
4
2
2
2
2
2
3
2 2
2 2
3 2

r
h
h
counting of states
Fermi energy, Fermi surface
thermal property: specific heat
transport property
electrical conductivity, Hall effect
thermal conductivity
3
3
2
(2 / )
( , ) ( ) dED E
d
E
k
N
L
f T

r
3
3
( ) 2 ( ) ( ) ( , )
(2 / )
d k
U T E k dED E E f E T
L


r
r
Thermal distribution of electrons (fermions)
Combine DOS D(E) and thermal dist f(E,T)
Recall that 2 f E
d k
k
f E dED E f E
k
k
k
k
( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
r
r
r
r
r
r

3
0
3
3
2

z z
Hotel rooms
tourists
money
D(e) D(e)
where
and is the energy that makes
(
in 3- dim
f E
e
f
T K E
T K E
E kT
F
F
( )
( ) /
)
( )
( )/

> <

1
1
1 2
0
0

Electronic specific heat (heuristic argument,

see Kittel p.152 for details)
The energy absorbed by the electrons is
U(T)-U(0) N
A
(kT)
2
/E
F
specific heat C
e
dU/dT
= 2R kT/E
F

= 2R T/T
F
a factor of T/T
F
smaller than classical result
lT/T
F
0.01 Therefore usually electron specific is
much smaller than phonon specific heat
l In general C = C
e
+ C
p
= ^T + AT
3
Only the electrons near the Fermi surface are
excited by thermal energy kT. The number of
excited electrons are roughly of the order of
N = N]kT/E
F
^
C
e
becomes more important
at very low T
counting of states
Fermi energy, Fermi surface
thermal property: specific heat
transport property
electrical conductivity, Hall effect
thermal conductivity
Electrical transport
Classical view
If these two types of scatterings are not related, then
1 1 1

i ph
T
+ (Matthiessen' s rule)
( )
at steady state
e e
e
d v v
m eE m
dt
e
v E
m

< > < >

< >
r r
r
r
r
Current density
r
r
r r
j e n v
ne
m
E E < > ( )
2

Ohm' s law
conductivity
The source of resistance comes from electron scattering
with defects and phonons.
Semi-classical view
On the average, the center of the Fermi sphere is shifted by Dk=-eEt.
One can show that when Dk<<k
F
, V
S- |
/V
- |
3/2(Dk/k
F
).
Therefore, the number of electrons being perturbed away from
equilibrium is only about (v
d
/v
F
) N
e
Semiclassical vs classical
r
r r
j e
v
v
n v env
d
F
F d

F
H
G
I
K
J
< > ( )

r r
j
ne
m
E
2

r
h
r r
v k m e m E
d
< > ( ) / ( / )
( ) (0)
dk
eE
dt
k k eE


r
r
h
r r r
v
F
vs v
d
(v
d
/v
F
) N vs N
The results are the same.
But the microscopic pictures
are very different!
At room temp The electron density
n= m/rne
2
= 2.5 10
-14
s
8
1.7 10
Cu
m


3 28
10 5 . 8

m n
Calculating the scattering time from measured resistivity r
Fermi velocity of copper mean free path l = u
F
t = 40 nm
1 6
10 6 . 1

ms
For a very pure Cu crystal at 4K, the resistivity reduces by a factor
of 100000, which means l increases by the same amount (l = 0.4
cm). This cannot be explained using the classical theory.
Residual resistance
dirty
clean
K
For a crystal without any defect, the only
resistance comes from phonon. Therefore, at
very low T, the electron mean free path
theoretically can be infinite
Hall effect (1879)
Classical view: (consider only 2-dim motion)
m
dv
dt
eE ev B m
v
B Bz dv dt
e e
r
r
r
r
r
r
r
r

$; / 0 at steady state
m eB
eB m
v
v
e
E
E
x
y
x
y
/
/

F
H
G
I
K
J
F
H
G
I
K
J

F
H
G
I
K
J
2
2
,
x x
y y
m B
E j
ne ne
j
E j B m
ne ne

| `

| ` | `



. , . ,

. ,
r
%
2
, /
0
, /
x L x L
y
y H x H
E j m ne
j
E j B ne

'

|r
H
|
B
1
2 2
1
or
L H
H L L H

| `


+
. ,
%
%
j env
r
r
Positive Hall coefficient?
Cant be explained by free
electron theory.
Band theory is required.
ne
B j
E
R
x
y
H
/ 1
t coefficien Hall

Also, an accurate and stable resistance standard (1990)
Quantum Hall effect
(von Klitzing, 1979)
h/e
2
=25812.807572(95) W
offers one of the most accurate
way to determine the Planck
constant
Classical prediction
1985
Thermal conduction in metal
Lorentz number: K/mT=2.45 10
-8
watt-ohm/deg
2
Wiedemann-Franz law, 1853
K C v
nk T
E
v v
v
F
F F

F
H
G
I
K
J
1
3
1
3 2
2 2
l

b g
Both electron and phonon can carry thermal energy
(Electrons are dominant in metals).
Similar to electric conduction, only the electrons near
the Fermi energy can contribute thermal current.