Electronic Properties of Engineering Materials
1. Edition January 1999
XVI, 320 Pages, Softcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd
Short Description
This text primarily explains the connection between the basic principles of chemistry and physics and the properties of engineering materials - metals, semiconductors, polymers, ceramics, glasses, and composites. Coverage includes electrical, optical, magnetic, and superconducting properties. The text approaches the properties of electrons in solids from two complementary approaches: the atoms to molecules to solids approach popular with chemists and the nearly-free-electron approach popular with physicists. The book has a strong focus on the optical properties of solids, especially color, and frequent use of actual engineering applications.
It includes both chemical and physical approaches to the properties of solids, and clearly separates those aspects of materials properties that can be tackled with classical physics from those that require quantum mechanics.
* Quantum mechanics are introduced later to allow readers to be familiar with some of the mathematics necessary for quantum mechanics before being exposed to its bewildering fundamental concepts.
* Discusses the electronic properties of solids from the viewpoint of elementary band theory, and end with a brief treatment of semiconductors and some semiconducting devices.
Conductors and Resistors.
Windows, Doors, and Transparent Electrodes (Optical Properties of Conductors).
Insulators and Capacitors.
Lenses and Optical Fibers (Optical Properties of Insulators).
Inductors, Electromagnets, and Permanent Magnets.
Superconductors and Superconducting Magnets.
Elasticity, Springs, and Sonic Waves.
QUANTUM MECHANICAL APPROACH.
Light Particles, Electron Waves, and Quantum Wells, and Springs.
The Periodic Table, Atomic Spectra, and Neon Lights.
The Game Is Bonds, Interatomic Bonds.
From Bonds to Bands (and Why Grass Is Green).
Free Electron Waves in Metals.
Nearly-Free Electrons--Bands, Gaps, Holes, and Zones.
Metals and Insulators.
Semiconductors.
LEDs, Photodetectors, Solar Cells, and Transistors.
Suggestions for Further Reading.
Index.
