July 19, 2022

Lecture-1
Course no:508

SOLID STATE
PHYSICS
Dr. Syed Rizwan Ali

DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS, UNIVERSITY OF KARACHI

Course Outline
 Crystal Structure
Solids: Amorphous and Crystalline Materials. Lattice,
Basis, Lattice Translation Vectors. Unit cell, Wigner-Seitz
Cell. Types of Lattices. 3 Dimensional Bravias lattices,
Symmetry and Symmetry Elements. Atomic packing
densities, Positions, Directions and Planes in Crystals.
Miller Indices. Some important crustal structures, The
Diamond Structure, ZnS structure, Graphite, Graphene .

 Imperfections in solids
Point defects: Vacancy, Schottky, Interstitial, Frankel
defects, Edge and Screw dislocations, Grain boundaries,
Stacking faults and twin boundaries.
2
Course Outline
 Crystal Diffraction
Braggs law and X-Ray diffraction, Laue equations,
Experimental methods for x-ray diffraction, General
Theory of diffraction, Ewald`s construction, reciprocal
lattice, Brillion Zone, Structure factor, Atomic form
factor.
 Crystal Bonding
Binding forces between atoms, Crystals of Inert Gases,
Van der Waals—London Interaction, Repulsive
Interaction, Equilibrium Lattice Constants, Cohesive
Energy, Ionic Crystals, Electrostatic or Madelung
Energy, Evaluation of the Madelung Constant, Covalent
bonds, Metallic bonds. 3
Course Outline
 Elementary Lattice Dynamics
Lattice Vibrations and Phonons: Linear Monoatomic
& Diatomic Chains. Acoustical and Optical Phonons.
Qualitative Description of the Phonon Spectrum in
Solids. Dulong and Petit’s Law, Einstein and Debye
theories of specific heat of solids. T3 law.

 Theories of Solids
Classical Free electron theory, Sommerfeld model,
Fermi Dirac statistics, density of states, Nearly Free
Electron Model, The Energy Gap, Bloch Functions,
Kronig-Penney Model, Introductory band theory.

4
 Books
 Charles Kittel, Introduction to Solid State Physics, Wiley,
2004
 S. O. Pillai, Solid State Physics, 7th Edition by New Age
International
 J. Richard Christman, Fundamentals of Solid State, John
Wiley & Sons, NY, 1988.
 Manijeh Razeghi, Fundamentals of Solid State Engineering,
Kluwer Academic Publishers (2002)
 M. A. Omar, Elementary Solid State Physics, Addison-
Wesley, 1993.
 H. Ibach, H. Lüth, Solid-State Physics: An Introduction to
Principles of Materials Science, Springer, 2003.
Assessment Plan
ASSESSMENT TASK DUE

1 1st Sessional After %

%

2 2nd Sessional After %

%

3 Assignments As %
announced

4 Terminal Exam End of %

semester

The distribution of weightage is subject to

modification on an as-needed basis.
6
Please note
 ASSIGNMENTS
 Assignments should be submitted only on Google
classroom. Assignments may include, activities, homework
problems, text readings, internet resources etc.

 EXAMS
 There will be two sessional and a final exam.
 Exams will be based on the assigned homework problems,
assigned readings and lecture notes.

 BE HONEST
 Students are encouraged to discuss the lectures and
assignment problems together.
 Students are not allowed to copy each others work.

All your writings are subject to TURNITIN-check.

Activity: Play with your new Lego Set !
Activity-1 : THE PERIODIC TABLE OF ELEMENTS
Reading and learning
1. Look at the periodic table and read its basic features from literature.
2. Identify some elements which are solids under ambient conditions.
3. Note down few technologically relevant elements (e.g., C, Si, Ge, Fe, Cr,
Co, Ni, Mn etc.) and find their crystal structures. [Hint: you can simply
Google the name of an element and read the respective article e.g., on
Wikipedia]. Write down a brief profile of each element.
4. Explain the difference between the groups and the periods on the
periodic table. What is the significance of each in terms of electrons?
5. Which selection contains elements that are all in the same group?
F, Cl, Br, Fe, Cu, Ni, C, N, O d. Al, Ge, Sb, B, Si, As
6. Which selection contains elements that are all in the same period?
Rb, Sr, La, Zr b. Al, Ga, Si, P c. N, O, Cl, Br d. Hg, Tl, Pb, Bi.
7. What is the group assigned to carbon in the periodic table? How can its
position in the periodic table tell you about its versatility? (Answer in
about 100 words.)
Crystal Structure
 How materials are classified?
 What is a crystal?
 Lattice, Basis, lattice vectors, symmetry etc.
 3 dimensional lattices
 Technologically relevant Structures: fcc & hcp
 Packing densities, Closed packing
 Miller indices for cubic system
 Diamond structure
11
Materials
Condensed matter
Hard matter Soft Matter

Liquids and Gases etc

Solids
Liquid having
immobile atoms e.g.,
Crystalline Amorphous due to very high
viscocity. No long
range order

Single Crystalline / Poly crystalline

Solids

13
Crystal
Crystal: A three dimensional periodic arrangement of
atoms

Lattice: geometrical structure of points in space having

some definite arrangement

Basis: Set of atoms or molecules, when associated with

each and every lattice point it forms the crystal structure.

Lattice + Basis = Crystal

The lattice structure is material dependent and is governed by
the type of bonds that lead to crystal formation.

Diamond (C): face centered cubic structure.

Ruby (Al2O3:Cr): hexagonal structure. 14
 Crystal Growth: Semiconductors (Si)
Ingot
Czochralski Process

Wafers
ICs in a nanoelectronic circut
Books
THANK YOU

I would love to have questions that cannot be answered

rather than answers than cannot be questioned !
[Richard Feynman]