Class Syllabus

ELEMENTARY CONCEPTS
1.
Electrons as particles (1 lecture)
The Drude model and Ohm's law, the Hall effect, electromagnetic waves in solids
 
2.
Electrons as waves (3 lectures)
Wave properties (basics.) Dispersion, group velocity and phase velocity. Quantum mechanics (basics). The uncertainty principle, Schroedinger's equation, the "particle in a box," and tunneling.
 
3.
Ensembles of electrons (1 lecture)
The chemical potential, the Boltzmann factor, Fermi-Dirac and Bose-Einstein distributions, and the Boltzmann limit.
 
4.
Ensembles of electrons in atoms: hydrogen and the periodic table (2 lectures)
The Bohr radius, central potential problems in QM: the hydrogen atom, quantum numbers n, l, m, and s, electron spin, filling of shells.
   
 
FUNDAMENTALS OF MATERIALS
5.
Bonding types (1 lecture)
Covalent, ionic, and metallic bonds; classification of solids.
 
6.
The free-electron gas: metals (1 lecture)
Deficiencies of the Drude model. Introduction of the semiclassical model of free electrons. Free-electron densities of states.
 
7.
Lattice vibrations: phonons (1 lecture)
Phonon dispersion relations and density of states, specific heat, and thermal expansion.
 
8.
The band theory of solids (3 lectures)
The Bloch theorem, the nearly free electron model, reduced and extended representations, Brillouin zones, and effective mass. Classification of solids revisited: metals, semiconductors, and insulators.
 
MATERIALS TYPES AND APPLICATIONS
9.
Semiconductors and semiconductor devices (4 lectures)
1) semiconductor carrier statistics, doping, mobilities and scattering, and direct and indirect gap semiconductors.
2) Enabling materials: lattice-matched quaternary alloys and molecular beam epitaxy.
3) p-n-junctions, Schottky barriers, the MOSFET.
4) Optoelectronics: the LED and semiconductor lasers.
 
10.
Dielectric materials and devices (1 lecture)
Polarization mechanisms and breakdown, high- and low-k materials. Piezoelectrics and ferroelectrics, SAW devices, and antireflective coatings.
 
11.
Magnetic materials and devices (2 lectures)
Para-, ferro- and antiferromagnetism, ferromagnetic domains and hysteresis loops, soft and hard ferromagnetic materials. Magnetoelectronics, magnetic nanostructures, and ultrahigh density magnetic recording.
 
12.
Superconducting materials and devices (2 lectures)
Phenomenology of superconductivity: Meissner effect and critical field, Landau-Ginzburg theory, flux pinning, and type I vs type II materials. Conventional (BCS) and high Tc materials. Applications as filters in wireless communications, superconducting magnets, and Josephson junctions.