Unit I

Electrical Conducting Materials

Crystal Structure:
Crystal structure is a description of ordered arrangement of atoms, ions, or molecules in a
crystalline material. Crystal structure is described in terms of the geometry of arrangement of
particles in the unit cells. The unit cell is defined as the smallest repeating unit having the full
symmetry of the crystal structure. The geometry of the unit cell is defined as a parallelepiped,
providing six lattice parameters taken as the lengths of the cell edges (a, b, c) and the angles
between them (α, β, γ). The positions of particles inside the unit cell are described by the
fractional coordinates (xi, yi, zi) along the cell edges, measured from a reference point.
A cubic crystal structure is considered as a basic crystal structure. The cubic crystal structure
has three basic cubic unit cells: primitive cubic (from the previous section), body-centred
cubic unit cell, and face-centred cubic unit cell. These are shown in figure 1.

1. Primitive Cubic Unit Cell

In the primitive cubic unit cell, the atoms are present only at the corners. Every atom at the
corner is shared among 8 adjacent unit cells. There are 4 unit cells in the same layer and 4 in
the upper (or lower) layer. Therefore, a particular unit cell has only 1/8th of an atom. Each
small sphere in the following figure represents the centre of a particle that occupies that
particular position and not its size. This structure is known as an open structure.
● The atoms in the primitive cubic unit cell are present only at the corners
● Every atom at the corner is shared among eight adjacent unit cells
● Four unit cells are present in the same layer
● Four unit cells in the upper/lower layer
● Therefore, a particular unit cell has the only 1/8th of an atom
● Each small sphere in the following figure represents the centre of a particle which
occupies that particular position and not its size
In each cubic unit cell, there are 8 atoms at the corners. Therefore, the total number of atoms
in one-unit cell is
8 × 1/8 = 1 atom.
2. Body-centred Cubic Unit Cell (BCC)
A BCC unit cell has atoms at each corner of the cube and an atom at the centre of the
structure. The diagram shown below is an open structure. According to this structure, the
atom at the body centre wholly belongs to the unit cell in which it is present.
● In BCC unit cell every corner has atoms.
● There is one atom present at the centre of the structure
● Below diagram is an open structure
According to this structure atom at the body centres wholly belongs to the unit cell in which
it is present.
Thus, in a BCC cell, we have:
● 8 corners × 1/8 per corner atom = 8 × 1/8 = 1 atom
● 1 body centre atom = 1 × 1 = 1 atom
Therefore, the total number of atoms present per unit cell = 2 atoms.
3. Face-centred Cubic Unit Cell (FCC)
An FCC unit cell contains atoms at all the corners of the crystal lattice and at the centre of all
the faces of the cube. The atom present at the face-centred is shared between 2 adjacent unit
cells and only 1/2 of each atom belongs to an individual cell.
● In FCC unit cell atoms are present in all the corners of the crystal lattice
● Also, there is an atom present at the centre of every face of the cube
● This face-centre atom is shared between two adjacent unit cells
● Only 12 of each atom belongs to a unit cell
Thus, in a face-centred cubic unit cell, we have:
8 corners × 1/8 per corner atom = 8 × 1/8 = 1 atom
6 face-centred atoms × 1/2 atom per unit cell = 3 atoms
Therefore, the total number of atoms in a unit cell = 4 atoms.
As an example, the crystal structure of NACL i.e. rock salt is discussed. Rock salt ( NaCl) is
an ionic compound that occurs naturally as white crystals. It is extracted from the mineral
form halite or evaporation of seawater. The structure of NaCl is formed by repeating the face
centred cubic unit cell. This is shown figure 2.

Conductivity of metals:
Electrical conductivity is a measurement of how easily a material allows electric current to
flow through it. High conductivity in metals is associated with the presence of free or
conduction electrons. These free electrons are able to move throughout the lattice and hence
do not belong to any particular atom. The conductivity of different metals is different such as
at room temperature, the conductivity of silver is 0.6x108 /ohm/m, copper is 0.59x108 /ohm/m
and gold is 0.41x108 /ohm/m etc. On the other hand, the conductivity of a good insulating
material is around 10-16 and the conductivity of a semiconductor material such as germanium
is 2x10-2. Higher the conductivity of metal will provide more free electrons and vice versa.
Based on the conductivity of metals, they are categorized in to three types: conductors,
semiconductors and insulators.
Name of the Material Resistivity Conductivity
Silver 1.59 x 10-8 6.30 x 107
Copper 1.68 x 10-8 5.98 x 107
Annealed copper 1.72 x 10-8 5.80 x 107
Gold 2.44 x 10-8 4.52 x 107
Aluminium 2.82 x 10-8 3.5 x 107
Tungsten 5.49 x 10-8 1.82 x 107
Germanium 4.6 x 10-1 2.17
Silicon 6.40 x 102 1.56 x 10-3
Wood 103 to 104 10-4 to 10-3
Deionized Water 1.8 x 105 4.2 x 10-5
Ultrapure Water 1.82 x 109 5.49 x 10-10
Glass 1011 to 1015 10-15 to 10-11
Carbon 1012 10-13
Hard Rubber 1013 10-14
Air 109 to 1015 10-15 to 10-9

Ohm’s Law and the relaxation time of electrons:

Relaxation Time, Collision Time and Mean free path:
Consider an electron moving with a velocity vd along x-direction and let it collide with an
obstacle as shown in figure below:

Under the above assumption, an electron on being scattered over an angle of θ has a velocity
component along the x-direction as shown in figure b. the loss of velocity component along
x-direction is given by:
Loss of velocity = vd(1-cosθ).
Let us now consider the collisions from the point of view of time. Assume that the probability
for an electron to collide with a lattice (obstacle) during a short time interval dt is given by
dt/τ′, where τ′ is a constant with the dimensions of time. Let F(t) represent the probability that
an electron moves for a time t without suffering a collision, and let F(t + dt) represent the
same probability for a period (t + dt). We may now write

and from probability theory

Comparing Eqs. (6.30) and (6.31), we have

Equation 6.32 describes the relation as exponential decay. Hence the relation between drift
velocity and time t is exponential decay as shown in figure below:
Mean Free Path:
Mean free path λ refers to the average distance that a moving particle travels between
successive collisions or impacts.

λ = vd . τc

Numerical:
Find the time of relation between collision and free path of electrons in copper
at room temperature. Given resistance of copper =1.5×10−8 Ωm number density
of electron in copper =8.5×1028 m−3
charge on electron =1.6×1019 C,
mass of electrons =9.1×10−19 kg
Drift velocity of free electron =1.6×10−4 ms−1

Electron Scattering and Resistivity:

In general, the resistivity of a perfect pure single crystal of a metal approaches zero as
temperature T approaches zero. This signifies that at very low temperatures, the mean free
path λ assumes microscopic values. Figure below depicts the classical picture of scattering of
electrons by the positive cores.
Considering the wave nature of the electrons, it may be proved theoretically that an electron
moving in a perfect crystal lattice would not be scattered at all. The modern approach to the
phenomenon of electrical resistivity of metals assumes that scattering of electrons results
from departure of crystal lattice from perfect periodicity. In pure metals, such departures from
perfect structure may be caused by one or more of the following causes:
1. By vibrations of the atoms in the lattice
2. By atoms occupying wrong positions in the lattice
3. By unoccupied lattice sites and
4. By impurity atoms.
Each of the above causes contributions to the scattering of electrons in metals and hence give
rise to relaxation time τ. But for isotropic scattering, the probability of scattering by one of
the various types of obstacles mentioned above per unit time equals (1/τk). hence the resultant
relaxation time τ is given by:

1 1
τ
= ∑ τ𝑘
𝑘

The summation in above equation is because the scattering probabilities are additive. Let τT
represent the relaxation time resulting from thermal vibration of lattice. Similarly let τi
represent the relaxation time associated with a given concentration of imperfection, then the
resultant relaxation time is given as:
1 1 1
τ
= τ𝑇
+ τ𝑖

In accordance, the resistivity equation can be rewritten as follows:

ρ=
𝑚 ⎡1 + 1 ⎤
2 ⎢τ τ𝑖 ⎥
𝑛𝑒 ⎣ 𝑇 ⎦
In the above equation, both τi and n, mass of electrons are independent of temperature. The
only quantity which is temperature dependent is τT. As the temperature T increases, the
amplitude of the atomic vibrations increases, scattering by lattice vibrations increases, results
in decrease of τ. From the above equation, it can be concluded that as temperature T of a
metal or alloy increases, the electrical resistivity ρ increases.
Joule’s Law:
Joule’s law of heating states that, when a current 'i' passes through a conductor of
resistance ‘R’ for time ‘t’ then the heat developed in the conductor is equal to the product of
the square of the current, the resistance and time.
Let H be the heat produced when a current 'i' passes through a conductor of resistance ‘r’ for
time ‘t’ then

Superconductivity:
Superconductivity is a set of physical properties observed in certain materials where electrical
resistance vanishes and magnetic fields are expelled from the material. Any material
exhibiting these properties is a superconductor. Unlike an ordinary metallic conductor, whose
resistance decreases gradually as its temperature is lowered, even down to near absolute zero,
a superconductor has a characteristic critical temperature below which the resistance drops
abruptly to zero. An electric current through a loop of superconducting wire can persist
indefinitely with no power source.
Applications:
● Superconductors are used in particle accelerators, generators, transportation,
computing, electric motors, medical, power transmission, etc.
● Superconductors are primarily employed for creating powerful electromagnets in MRI
scanners.
● These conductors are used to transmit power for long distances.
● They are used in memory or storage elements.
Quantum free electron theory
The following assumptions of classical free electron theory holds good in quantum free
electron theory also.
✓ The electrons travel with a constant potential inside the metal but confined within its
boundaries.
✓ The attraction between the electrons and the lattice ions and the repulsion between the
electrons themselves are ignored.

The following assumptions are introduced in quantum free electron theory

✓ The energy values of the conduction electrons are quantized.
✓ The allowed energy values are realized in terms of a set of energy values.
✓ The distribution of electrons in the various allowed energy levels occur as per Pauli’s
exclusion principle.
Fermi energy level
According to the Quantum theory quantization leads to discrete energy levels. The electrons
are distributed among these energy levels according to Pauli’s
exclusions principle i.e., it allows a maximum number of two electrons with spins in opposite
directions in any energy level. The pair of electrons, one with sign up and the other with spin
down occupy the lowest energy level. The next pair occupies the next level. This process
goes on until all the electrons in the metal occupy their position.
The highest energy level that can be occupied by an electron at 0 K is called Fermi energy
level. It is denoted by 𝐸.
When the metal is not under the influence of an external field, all the levels above the Fermi
energy level are empty; those lying below are completely filled.

Fermi – Dirac Distribution:

The electrons in the energy levels which are below the Fermi level cannot absorb the energy
above absolute zero temperature. When the material is at a temperature higher than 0 K, it
receives thermal energy from surroundings so, electrons are thermally excited. As a result,
they move into the higher energy levels which are unoccupied at 0 K. Though the excitations
are random, the distributions of electrons in various energy levels will be systematically
governed by a statistical function at the steady state.
The occupation obeys a specified statistical distribution. This distribution is called Fermi –
Dirac distribution law.
According to this distribution law, the probability F(E) that a given energy state E is occupied
at a temperature T is given by

Here f(E) is called Fermi – Dirac probability function.

It indicates that the fraction of all energy state (E) occupied under thermal equilibrium ‘K’ is
Boltzmann constant.

The dependence of Fermi factor on temperature and energy is as shown in the figure.