Fermi Level
According to the Pauli principle, the electrons in the ground state occupy all the lowest-energy states, up to some Fermi energy . Since the energy is given by
- ,
this corresponds to occupying all the states with wave vectors, where is so-called Fermi wave vector, given by
- ,
where is the total number of electrons in the system, and V is the total volume. The Fermi energy is then
In a nearly-free-electron model of a -valent metal, one can replace with, where is the total number of metal ions.
Read more about this topic: Free Electron Model
Famous quotes containing the word level:
“Nihilism as a symptom that the losers have no more consolation: that they destroy in order to be destroyed, that without morality they no longer have any reason to “resign themselves”Mthat they put themselves on the level of the opposite principle and for their part also want power in that they compel the mighty to be their hangmen. This is the European form of Buddhism, renunciation, once all existence has lost its “meaning.””
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)