Solid State Physics: An Introduction

Abstract

There's a wealth of excellent textbooks on solid state physics. The author of the present book is well aware of this fact and does not attempt to write just another one. Rather, he has provided a very compact introduction to solid state physics for third-year students. As we are faced with the continuous appearance interdisciplinary fields and associated study curricula in natural and engineering sciences (biophysics, mechatronics, etc), a compact text in solid state physics would be appreciated by students of these disciplines as well. The book features 11 chapters where each is provided with supplementary discussion questions and problems. The first chapters deal with a review of chemical bonding mechanisms, crystal structures and mechanical properties of solids, which are brief but by no means superficial. The following, somewhat more detailed chapter on thermal properties of lattices includes a nice introduction to phonons. The foundations of solid state electronics are treated in the next three chapters. Here the author first discusses the classical treatment of electronic behaviour in metals (Drude model) and continues with a quantum-theoretical approach starting with the free-electron model and leading to the band structures in conductive solids. The next chapter is devoted to semiconductors and ends with a brief but, with respect to the topical scope, adequate discussion of semiconductor devices. The classical topics of magnetic and dielectric behaviour are treated in the sequel. The book closes with a chapter on superconductivity and a brief chapter covering the modern topics of quantum confinement and aspects of nanoscale physics. In my opinion, the author has succeeded in creating a very concise yet not superficial textbook. The account presented often probes subjects deep enough to lay the basis for a thorough understanding, preparing the reader for more specialized textbooks. For instance, I think that this book may serve as an excellent first introduction to semiconductor physics. Of course, the detailed treatment of some topics had to be spared and it is certainly a matter of taste which subjects should be treated in detail in a solid state textbook and which can be covered by references to other textbooks or further literature. A typical example for the latter is the decision to omit the detailed treatment of the local field concept leading to the Clausius–Mosotti relation. What could be improved in further editions (which will hopefully be coming) are more specific cross-references within the book and to other textbooks. In the current edition, missing internal cross-references can be compensated for by consulting the subject index, but it would be nicer to have these in the text. As mentioned above, I expect that this book will also be useful to engineering students. For these, it would be beneficial to provide more details on underlying terms and concepts that they, according to common engineering curricula, may not be that familiar with. Examples for such topics are quantum theory beyond the very first principles (e.g., multi-particle treatment, operators and observables) and thermodynamics (e.g., the relevance of electrochemical potential and Fermi levels). These topics could be treated in a concise manner in additional appendices. The current appendix is very short and rudimentary at times, e.g., for the microscopic form of Maxwell's equations, electric and magnetic fluxes are introduced but not outlined further (in that respect, it could also be useful to have a list of used symbols). In summary, this textbook definitely has an interesting scope within an established field and it has been written with appealing didactic skills. This first edition truly deserves to be discovered by students of various disciplines, who want to obtain a quick introduction to solid state physics.