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On 03/01/2010 01:14 PM, Jeff Loats wrote:
I am teaching a modern physics course and we are discussing the way inwhich
very similar valence electron configuration (2 electrons in a p-shell)leads
to very different conduction behaviors for carbon, silicon, germanium,etc.
My solid state is pretty rusty so I am seeking some help.
I don't understand this question about "similar" and
"different". Different relative to what? Relative
to metals? To a sophomore-level approximation, and
even better than that, band-structure-wise, diamond
is a carbon copy of silicon.
But let's move on from that issue; the following
questions don't seem to depend on it.
As we bring many C atoms together, the 2s and 2p bands mix together.the
However, if you bring them even closer together a split occurs, creating
valence and conduction bands for C, SI, etc.just
I am having trouble finding a good sophomore-level description of what
causes the splitting to occur. That is, why don't the 2s and 2p bands
continue to overlap, forming one huge band? What is the mechanism for the
later split.
That seems kinda backwards. In the hypothetical lattice
where the atoms are far apart, i.e. zero overlap, the
bands are split. They start out split. This is just the
atomic s-p splitting.
So the question of "continuing to overlap" doesn't arise.