{"id":119,"date":"2025-02-26T13:54:25","date_gmt":"2025-02-26T13:54:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/people.mtsu.edu\/wroberts\/?page_id=119"},"modified":"2026-05-11T18:59:33","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T23:59:33","slug":"phys4630","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/people.mtsu.edu\/wroberts\/phys4630\/","title":{"rendered":"Physics 463: Solid State Physics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Textbook<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Elementary Solid State Physics by M. Ali Omar.&nbsp; There are lots of supplementary reading sources to get a different view of the various topics that we will cover.&nbsp; The library has a surprisingly good selection of solid state books. The BIG classic elementary solid state text is by Kittel; it has some good sections but overall I do not like it as a main text.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Course Goal<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>To provide a introductory understanding of the concepts and principles of solid state physics.&nbsp; I aim to emphasize the physical concepts that lead to important \u201cinformation-age\u201d devices such as the transistor and the diode laser.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Prerequisites<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Thermodynamics (PHYS361) and Theoretical Physics II (PHYS311).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Grading<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Your final grade for the course will be determined by the following prescription:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;Homework:______30 %&nbsp;<br>&nbsp;Test 1__________15%<br>&nbsp;Test 2__________15%<br>&nbsp;Test 3__________15%&nbsp;<br>&nbsp;Comprehensive final exam&nbsp; 25%<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The homework is an important part of this course. Because the book does not always have a sufficient depth of problems, some of the homework assignments will not be from the book.&nbsp; I will hand out printed sheets that have the homework problems from the book and any extra problems as appropriate.&nbsp; I also intend to try to work in an examination of papers from the research literature to see how what we learn in class applies to recent (or perhaps some classic) research results.&nbsp; This will likely involve you reading a paper that I hand out and then discussing it in the next class.&nbsp; I will be working on this as the semester goes along so I will keep you informed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The three tests will be 50 minute in-class affairs over the material covered since the last test.<br>The final exam is comprehensive over the material covered in class and in the homework.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The course outline gives a general guide of the topics to be covered and an approximate schedule. The dates on which the homework assignments are also listed, although they are subject to minor change (to a later date). The test dates listed will not change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><tbody><tr><th>Monday<\/th><th>Wednesday<\/th><th>Friday<\/th><\/tr><tr><td>&nbsp;<\/td><td>Jan. 6 Introduction<\/td><td>Jan. 8 Crystal Structure&nbsp;and SymmetryReading: Chapter 1<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Jan. 11 Crystal Structure&nbsp;and SymmetryReading: Chapter 1<\/td><td>Jan. 13 Crystal Structure&nbsp;and SymmetryReading: Chapter 1<\/td><td>Jan. 15 Crystal Structure&nbsp;and SymmetryReading: Chapter 1<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Jan. 18 Martin Luther KingHoliday<\/td><td>Jan. 20 Crystal Structure&nbsp;and SymmetryReading: Chapter 1&nbsp;<\/td><td>Jan. 22 Expt\u2019l Techniques&nbsp;to measure crystal&nbsp;structureReading Chapter 2<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Jan. 25 Expt\u2019l Techniques&nbsp;to measure crystal&nbsp;structureReading Chapter 2<strong>Home work set 1 due<\/strong><\/td><td>Jan. 27 Expt\u2019l Techniques&nbsp;to measure crysta&nbsp;structureReading Chapter 2<\/td><td>Jan. 29 Expt\u2019l Techniques&nbsp;to measure crystal&nbsp;structureReading Chapter 2<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Feb. 1 PhononsReading Chapter 3&nbsp;<strong>Home work set 2 due<\/strong><\/td><td>Feb. 3 PhononsReading Chapter 3<\/td><td>Feb. 5&nbsp;<strong>Test 1<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Feb. 8 PhononsReading Chapter 3<\/td><td>Feb. 10 PhononsReading Chapter 3<\/td><td>Feb. 12 PhononsReading Chapter 3<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Feb. 15 Free-electron&nbsp;model of metalsReading Chapter 4<strong>Home work set 3 due<\/strong><\/td><td>Feb. 17 Free-electron&nbsp;model of metalsReading Chapter 4<\/td><td>Feb. 19 Free-electron&nbsp;model of metalsReading Chapter 4<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Feb. 22 Free-electron&nbsp;model of metalsReading Chapter 4<\/td><td>Feb. 24 Electron Band&nbsp;StructureReading Chapter 5<\/td><td>Feb. 26 Electron Band&nbsp;StructureReading Chapter 5<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Mar. 1 Electron Band&nbsp;StructureReading Chapter 5<strong>Home work set 4 due<\/strong><\/td><td>Mar. 3 Electron Band&nbsp;StructureReading Chapter 5<\/td><td>Mar. 5 Electron Band&nbsp;StructureReading Chapter 5<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Mar. 8 SemiconductorsReading Chapter 6Home work set 5 due<\/td><td>Mar. 10&nbsp;Test 2<\/td><td>Mar. 12 SemiconductorsReading Chapter 6<\/td><\/tr><tr><th>Monday<\/th><th>Wednesday<\/th><th>Friday<\/th><\/tr><tr><td colspan=\"3\"><strong>Mar. 15,&nbsp;Mar. 17,&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>Mar. 19<\/strong><strong>SPRING BREAK<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Mar. 22 SemiconductorsReading Chapter 6<\/td><td>Mar. 24 SemiconductorsReading Chapter 6<\/td><td>Mar. 26 HOLIDAY<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Mar. 29 SemiconductorsReading Chapter 6<\/td><td>Mar. 31 Semiconductor&nbsp;DevicesReading Chapter 7<\/td><td>Apr. 2 Holiday: No&nbsp;Classes<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Apr. 5 Semiconductor&nbsp;DevicesReading Chapter 7<strong>Homework set 6 due<\/strong><\/td><td>Apr. 7 Semiconductor&nbsp;DevicesReading Chapter 7&nbsp;<\/td><td>Apr. 9 Semiconductor&nbsp;DevicesReading Chapter 7<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Apr. 12 Optical PropertiesReading Chapter 8<\/td><td>Apr. 14 Optical PropertiesReading Chapter 8<\/td><td>Apr. 16 Optical PropertiesReading Chapter 8<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Apr. 19 Optical Properties<strong>Homework set 7 due<\/strong><\/td><td>Apr. 21&nbsp;Test 3<\/td><td>Apr. 23 Special Topics<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Apr. 26 Special Topics&nbsp;<\/td><td>Apr. 28 Finals week starts<\/td><td>Apr. 30 Finals week, yet&nbsp;again.&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>May 5&nbsp;<strong>Final Exam<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Summer<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Summer\u2026<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Textbook Elementary Solid State Physics by M. Ali Omar.&nbsp; There are lots of supplementary reading sources to get a different view of the various topics that we will cover.&nbsp; The library has a surprisingly good selection of solid state books. The BIG classic elementary solid state text is by Kittel; it has some good sections [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-119","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.mtsu.edu\/wroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.mtsu.edu\/wroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.mtsu.edu\/wroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.mtsu.edu\/wroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.mtsu.edu\/wroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/people.mtsu.edu\/wroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":430,"href":"https:\/\/people.mtsu.edu\/wroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/119\/revisions\/430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.mtsu.edu\/wroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}