Conductors, Dielectrics,

and Capacitance
Electric Current
Electric charges in motion constitute current, and the unit of
current is ampere (A).

Current is defined as a rate movement of charge passing a given

reference point of one coulomb per second.

Current is defined as the flow of

positive charges even though the
conduction in metal takes place
through the flow of electrons
Current Density
Current density is useful in finding the current over a given
region or at a point.

Current Density represented by vector J, and the units are

in amperes per square meter.

We can determine the total current over a surface S by

integrating
Current Density
In the time interval Δt, the element of charge moved a distance Δx. We
have therefore moved a charge ΔQ = vΔSΔx through a reference plane
perpendicular to the direction of motion in a time increment Δt, and
the resultant current is

In terms of current density,

we find
This result show very clearly that charge in
motion constitutes a current. We call this
type of current convection current, and J is
the convection current density.

Note: convection current density is

related linearly to charge density and
velocity.
Energy Bands
In a crystalline solid, such as a metal or a diamond, atoms are
packed closely together.
(Many more electrons are present, and many more permissible energy levels are available
because of the interaction forces between adjacent atoms.)

Energies which may be possessed by electrons are grouped into

broad ranges, or “bands”

The electrons with the highest energy levels, the valence

electrons, are located in the valence band.

The range of electron energies higher than the valence band is

the conduction band.
Metallic Conductors
If there are acceptable higher-energy levels in the valence band,
or if the valence band merges smoothly into the conduction
band, the the solid is a metallic conductor.

In conductors, the valence band and the conduction band are

basically connected, so electrons can easily move from the
valence band to the conduction band.

In conductors, additional kinetic energy may be given to the

valence electrons by an external field to cause electrons flow.
Insulators and Semiconductors
Unlike conductors, if a gap exists between the valence band and
the conduction band and the greatest energy occupies the top
level in the valence band, the solid is an insulator.

(If a relatively large amount of energy is applied, an electron can jump from the valence band to
the conduction band where conduction can easily occur, and the insulator breaks down.
Generally, the gap is too large, and electrons can not cross the gap into the conduction band.)

An intermediate condition occurs when the gap is very small.

Small amounts of energy in the form of heat, light, or an
electric field may raise the energy of the electrons to cross
into the conduction band. In this case, the solid is a
semiconductor.
Electric Field in Conductors
Consider a conductor with a field E. An electron having a charge Q = -e
will experience a force F = -eE.

In a crystalline material, the progress of the

electron is impeded by continual
collisions, so a constant average velocity
must be attained called the drift velocity
vd.
The mobility of the electron in a given
material is denoted as .

Note: The electron velocity is in the direction

opposite the direction of E.
Current Density in Conductors
Substituting the drift velocity in the
equation for current density we can
obtain:

The relationship between J and E for a

metallic conductor is specified by the
conductivity :

The conductivity can be expressed in terms of charge density and the

electron mobility:

Note: Conductivity is measured in siemens per meter (S/m). One

siemens (1S) is the basic unit for conductance in the SI system, and is
defined as one ampere per volt.
Ohm’s Law
The ratio of the potential difference between
the two ends of a cylinder to the current
entering the more positive end is recognized
as the resistance R:
Resistance is measured in ohms (abbreviated as )

This expression is known as Ohm’s Law.

Note: To come to this conclusion, we assumed J and E are uniform, but we can define
the resistance as the ratio of V to I, where V is the potential difference between two
specified equipotential surfaces in the material and I is the total current crossing the
more positive surface into the material.
Electrostatic Fields
Principles which apply to conductors in electrostatic fields are stated as:

1. The static electric field intensity inside a conductor is zero.

2. The static electric field intensity at the surface of a conductor is
everywhere directed normal to that surface.
3. The conductor surface is an equipotential surface.

These are the desired boundary conditions for the conductor-free space
boundary in electrostatics:
Method of Images
Using the method of images, we can replace any
charge configuration above an infinite ground
plane by an arrangement of the given
configuration, its image, and no conducting
plane.

The idea is behind method of images is to replace

the conducting surface by other imaginary
charges in such a way that create the condition
that tangential component of the electric field
along the conducting surface is zero.
Semiconductors
In intrinsic semiconductor material, two types of current carriers are present:
electrons and holes.

Electrons are those from the top of the filled valence band which have received
enough energy to jump to the conduction band.

The vacancies left by these electrons, or holes, represent energy states in the
valence band which may move from atom to atom.

Many semiconductor properties may be described by

The conductivity of semiconductors is a treating the hole as a positive charge.
function of both hole and electron
concentrations and mobilities.

This is because both holes and electrons move in an electric field, and they move in
opposite directions; therefore, both contribute to a component of current.
Dielectric Materials
A dielectric material can be viewed as a free-space arrangement
of electric dipoles which are composed of positive and
negative charges whose centers do no quite coincide.

These are not fee charges. They are bound

in place by atomic and molecular forces
and can only shift positive slightly in
response to external fields. They are
called bound charges.

All dielectric have the ability to store electric energy. This storage takes place by
means of a shift in the relative positions of the internal, bound positive and
negative charges against the normal molecular and atomic forces.
Polarization
Polar molecules have a permanent displacement existing between the
centers of “gravity” of the positive and negative charges, and each
pair acts as a dipole.
The action of an external field will align these
molecules, to some extent, in the same direction.
Nonpolar molecules do not have
this dipole arrangement until
after a field is applied.

The negative and positive charges

shift in opposite directions
against their mutual attraction
and produce a dipole which is
aligned with the electric field.
Polarization p is in coulomb-meters

Either type of dipole may be described by its

dipole moment: p = Qd
Q is the positive one of the two bound
charges composing the dipole, and d is
The polarization P is the vector from the negative to the
positive charge.
defined as the
dipole moment per
unit volume:
Important Expressions
When polarized material is present we can define D in
more general terms:

Using the divergence theorem we can also obtain:

Where epsilon is the permittivity, D is related to E by:

Important Expressions
The linear relationship between P and E is:
Chi is a dimensionless quantity called the
electric susceptibility of the material.

The relative permittivity or the dielectric constant of

the material is a dimensionless quantity:

The permittivity is related by:

Boundary Conditions Two Dielectrics
We examine the tangential components around the
small closed path to obtain

The boundary conditions on the normal components

are
Between Conductor and Dielectric
We know that D and E are both zero inside the conductor.
Also, the tangential E and D field components must both
be zero to satisfy the two equations

We can now see that the boundary conditions for the

conductor-free space boundary are valid for the
conductor-dielectric boundary.
Capacitance
The capacitance of the two-conductor system is
defined as the ratio of the magnitude of the
total charge on either conductor to the
magnitude of the potential difference between
conductors.

The total energy stored in a capacitor is obtained by: