Introduction to course.

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Welcome to Physics 5335 The Physics of
Semiconductors!!
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Class Web Page!

• http//www.phys.ttu.edu/cmyles/Phys5335/5335.html
  
• Parts of this page are UNDER CONSTRUCTION!
• There you will find
• 1. Posted (Word format) Syllabus, Help
  Resources, Semiconductor Resources, Exams
  Homework (eventually with solutions).
• 2. Posted (Power Point format) Lectures
• 3. Important Class Announcements Calendar
  Items!
• 4. Links to Web Pages for semiconductor physics
• 5. Other important items relating to this class.
• PLEASE!!
• Get into the habit of checking this page often!

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Announcement Page!My Web Page

• Linked from the class Web Page is
• The Announcement Page
• http//www.phys.ttu.edu/cmyles/Phys5335/announce
  .html
• Contains class announcements major calendar
  items. Please check it often!
• You might also check out My Web page at
• http//www.phys.ttu.edu/cmyles/

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Physics 5335

• Email Distribution List!
• It is VERY important that you have an email
  address that I have it!!!
• I will use the email distribution list to make
  important class announcements!!!
• It is VERY important that you check your email
  DAILY!!! (PLEASE tell me if you change email
  address!)

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Assignment Number 1

• For 20 extra points towards
• your homework grade!!
• Send me an email message
• Be sure to include your name Physics 5335 in
  the message.
• Email address Charley.Myles_at_ttu.edu
• Due 5PM
• Friday, August 31, 2012!!!

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Homework 40 of Grade

• Homework will be assigned regularly!!
• It may come from our text or elsewhere.
• Working problems is the most effective means of
  learning physics.
• Homework is due at 5PM on the due date.
• NO late homework will be accepted
• You are strongly encouraged to work on homework,
  in
• groups together! This is how most scientists
• engineers work in the real world!

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Mid Term Exam 30 of Grade

• It Will be a Take Home Exam
• BUT
• It will have mostly qualitative questions that
  must be answered using words, not math. The idea
  of this is to assess your understanding of
  physical concepts.
• Your understanding of the needed math skills will
  be assessed with the Homework.

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Semester Project 30 of Grade(instead of a
Final Exam!)

• Oral Presentation Written Paper
• Library Research on an advanced topic or
  application of semiconductor physics we dont
  have time for in class.
• Choose the topic by Mid-Semester (Monday, Oct.
  22)
• Have the topic approved by me before starting.
• Oral Presentations
• Will be scheduled during final exam period (Dec.
  10 - 15)
• Written Paper
• Will also be due at that time.

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Where to Go for Help??

• Your Fellow Students!!!
• A very effective strategy is to work on homework
  and to study together in a group.
• This is how professionals work in the real
  world.
• Me (office hours or not!)
• The Internet!!!
• There are LARGE numbers of Semiconductor Physics
  websites! Using Google.com typing in
  Semiconductor Physics gives millions of
  hits!!!!
• Class Web Page!

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To Succeed in this Course

• READ the book, which cost you many !
• Its most effective to read the material BEFORE I
  lecture on it.
• READ some of the supplementary books or other
  resources to give you different treatments of the
  material.
• WORK the assigned homework problems!!
• It is IMPOSSIBLE to learn physics without working
  problems!!!
• Copying other peoples solutions or solutions
  from the web will NOT teach you physics!

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To Succeed in this Course

• COME TO CLASS!!
• There is a correlation between attendance
  grade! Also, skipping means that you are WASTING
  the tuition fees that you (or someone) paid!
  With tuition fees for a full-time student, each
  class meeting costs about 25. Each time you
  skip, you are throwing away 25!! After a while
  this adds up! My lectures may not be entertaining
  or brilliant, but I do expose you to the
  material.
• ATTENDANCE!!!
• THE WEEKEND DOESNT BEGIN THURSDAY, which is a
  regular CLASS DAY!!!!

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Books

• Primary Textbook
• Semiconductor Physics Applications
• by M. Balkansi R.F. Wallis.
• Portions of lectures will be from it, but also
  from the 2 supplements. Topics will be discussed
  in approximately the same order as the table of
  contents.
• Material from many other sources will also be
  used.
• It's available at bookstores (?), on-line, in
  hardbound or paperback. I urge you to shop around
  find the best price.
• Supplemental Textbooks
• Optional. Some portions of the course will use
  some information in them.
• 1. Fundamentals of Semiconductors, by P.Y.
  Yu M. Cardona.
• 2. Semiconductor Physics, by K. Seeger.

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• Course Objective
• To expose students to the rich, broad, varied
  field of SEMICONDUCTOR PHYSICS.
• This ISN'T a semiconductor device course, but a
  course on the microscopic material properties of
  semiconductor materials!!
• A semiconductor device course is Physics 5336,
  Device Physics.
• This course is designed to complement
  supplement Physics 5304, Solid State Physics
  (offered Fall in odd numbered years). Obviously,
  there is large overlap between Solid State
  Semiconductors, but one course should NOT be
  considered a replacement for the other!!
• We'll discuss the microscopic physics of mostly,
  CRYSTALLINE semiconductors.
• It would help if you already knew some basic
  solid state physics, but it isnt vital!

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What is Semiconductor Physics?

• Semiconductor Physics can be defined as study
  of the materials that are important for modern
  technology. As we'll see, the physics of
  semiconductor materials is really much more than
  that! It is a very important branch of the
  broader discipline of Solid State Physics,
  which is study of the microscopic properties of
  the dense assembly of electrons formed by placing
  atoms very close together in a solid. Solid State
  is very large, very broad physics sub-field.
• In some sense, Solid State Physics is the
  opposite of Particle Physics.
• Particle Physics focuses on properties of
  INDIVIDUAL particles.
• Particle physicists break objects up into their
  constituent building blocks.
• Solid State Physics deals with the microscopic
  properties of Large COLLECTIONS of particles.
• Solid State physicists are interested in what
  fundamentally NEW PROPERTIES emerge when these
  building blocks are grouped together in various
  ways.

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Motivations for the Study of Semiconductor
Physics

• Technological Basic Physics motivations to
  study Semiconductor Physics.
• Technological Motivations
• A very important motivation is that the
  microscopic properties Semiconductor Physics
  deals with are responsible for the majority of
  modern technology.
• These properties determine the mechanical
  strength of materials, how they interact with
  light, how they conduct electricity, etc.
• So, Semiconductor Physics is important for
  technology, because it gives guidance on the
  design the circuits needed for modern electronic
  devices.
• This field gave us the transistor
• the semiconductor chip!
• So, Semiconductor Physics is traditionally linked
  to materials science, chemistry engineering.
• Recently, it has developed overlaps with biology,
  biochemistry, biotechnology medicine.
• So, many current research questions in
  Semiconductor Physics are still at the frontiers
  of applied science next-generation technologies.

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• Basic Physics Motivations
• A very important motivation to study
  Semiconductor Physics is that the fundamental
  physics needed to understand the microscopic
  properties of these materials is very
  interesting.
• To understand these properties, the ideas
  methods of quantum mechanics must be used. The
  physics of solids is
• VERY deeply quantum mechanical.
• So, Semiconductor Physics has sometimes been
  called the best lab for studying subtle quantum
  mechanical effects.
• This course may be a first chance for students to
  see quantum mechanical ideas methods applied to
  cases where their technological consequences are
  so important.

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• Just 2 examples (of MANY!) in which Semiconductor
  Physics discoveries have revealed very
  interesting, fundamental physics are
  observations/explanations of
• 1. The Quantum Hall Effect
• 2. The Fractional Quantum Hall Effect
• Both have exotic quantum mechanical explanations.
• A strong indicator that Semiconductor Physics has
  led ( continues to lead!) to the understanding
  of many very interesting basic physics phenomena
  is the fact that
• More than 40 of Physics Nobel Prizes in the
• past 40 years 50 of those in the past 12 years
• have been for work in Semiconductor Physics

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• The Semiconductor Physics Research Area
• Many of you are likely taking this course because
  it is related to your research area. You've
  chosen a very good, interesting field! LARGE
  quantities of new physics is discovered in this
  area ( in its parent field of Solid State) all
  of the time.
• For example, the American Physical Society's
  (APS) Division of Condensed Matter Physics or
  DCMP ("Condensed Matter" is the same as Solid
  State) is, BY FAR, the largest APS division!
• (1/3) of the 50,000 APS members belong to
  DCMP.
• Another APS division is the Division of Materials
  Physics or DMP (Materials Physics is the same
  as Applied Solid State), started 12-15 years
  ago. The DMP is rapidly growing may eventually
  become similar in size to the DCMP. (Many people
  belong to both!).
• BY FAR, the largest annual APS meeting is the
  joint DCMP DMP meeting. It is held each March
  (it's called the March Meeting !).
• 2012 March Meeting (Boston, MA) 7,000 people
  5,000 papers!

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• The American Physical Society (APS)
• No matter what their research area
• Every Physics Graduate Student,
• every undergrad who wants to go to graduate
  school
• should join the APS!!
• The first year's membership is FREE to students
  the following student years are highly
  discounted!

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• The Materials Research Society (MRS)
• Graduate students working in Solid State,
  Condensed Matter, or Materials Physics
• should also consider joining the MRS!!
• The MRS is another large professional
  organization, but it has a very interdisciplinary
  membership. This reflects the fact that people
  with many different backgrounds are doing various
  kinds of materials research. For example, it has
  members with backgrounds in Physics, in
  Chemistry, in various types of Engineering.