PYL558: Statistical Mechanics

Tutorial Sheet 6

1. Why does the electrical conductivity of the metals decreases as the temperature is increased? How
would you expect the conductivity of a semiconductor to change with temperature?

2. A semiconductor has 6 × 1019 electrons and 7 × 1020 holes per cubic meter. If the mobilities of the
electrons and holes are 0.1 m2 /V sec and 0.06 m2 /V sec respectively, calculate the conductivity of
the semiconductor.

3. Mobilities of the electrons and holes in the sample of an intrinsic Ge at 300 K are 0.36 m2 /V s
and 0.17 m2 /V s respectively. If the conductivity of the specimen is 2.2 ohm−1 m−1 , compute the
forbidden gap.

4. (a) For an intrinsic semiconductor, show that the Fermi level is placed exactly half way between
valence and conduction band.
(b) For an intrinsic semiconductor with gap Eg = 0.7 eV , determine the position of the Fermi
level at 300 K if m∗h = 6m∗e . Also calculate the density of electrons and holes at 300 K.

5. What are the factors which govern the position of the Fermi level in an extrinsic semiconductor?

6. (a) In an n-type semiconductor, the Fermi level lies 0.3 eV below the conduction band. If the
concentration of the donor atoms is doubled find new position of the Fermi level.
(b) In an n-type semiconductor, the Fermi level lies 0.3 eV below the conduction band at 300
K. If the temperature is increased to 330 K, find the new position of the Fermi level.

7. Consider a ideal gas in d- dimensional box of volume V. The energy of each particle is p = α|p|s ,
with α > 0 and s > 0,

(a) Show that at all temperatures, the internal energy of the gas is related to its pressure by
P V = σU , where σ is a constant which has the same value for Bosons, Fermions and Maxwell-
Boltzmann particles. How is radiation pressure related to energy density in d- dimensions?
(b) For the case of Fermions, find the average energy per particle at low temperatures.

Hint: Use the density of states for d- dimensions and rest is same as discussed in class.

8. A d-dimensional container is divided into two regions A and B by a fixed wall. The two regions
contain identical Fermi gases of spin- 21 particles which have a magnetic moment τ . In region
A there is a magnetic field of strength H, but there is no field in region B. Initially, the entire
system is at zero temperature, and the numbers of particles per unit volume are the same in both
regions. If the wall is now removed, particles may flow from one region to the other. Determine
the direction in which particles begin to flow, and how the answer depends on the dimensionality.
Hint: The direction of flow will depend upon the chemical potential in two two regions.

9. Consider a gas of N electrons contained in a box of volume V , whose walls have N0 absorbent
sites, each of which can absorb one electron. Let −0 be the energy of an electron absorbed at
one of these sites and p2 /2m the energy of a free electron.

(a) For N > N0 , find the limits as T → 0 and T → ∞, of the number Na of absorbed electrons
and number Nf of free electrons.
(b) For N = N0 , find the chemical potential µ(T ) and the particle numbers Na (T ) and Nf (T )
at low temperature.

Hint: Use grand canonical ensemble and find average number of electrons absorbed at each site.
 Useful Information

Table 1: Values of the Fermi energy, Fermi velocity and Fermi temperature for several metals

Li Be Na Mg Al K Cu Ag Sb Au
f (eV ) 4.7 14.3 3.2 7.1 11.7 2.1 7.0 5.5 10.9 5.5
vf (106 ms−1 ) 1.3 2.25 1.1 1.6 2.0 0.85 1.6 1.4 2.0 1.4
Tf (104 K) 5.5 16.6 3.8 8.2 13.6 2.5 8.2 6.4 12.7 6.4

Table 2: Values of donar and acceptor ionization energies for the various dopants and host crystals

Donar Ionization Energy (Ec − Ea ) eV Acceptor Ionization Energy (Ea − Ev ) eV

Host Crystal
P As Sb B Al In Ga
Ge 0.012 0.0127 0.0096 0.0104 0.0102 0.02 0.010
Si 0.045 0.049 0.039 0.045 0.057 0.16 0.065