Problems in Material Science 2012.

1. The density of bcc iron is 7900 kg/m

3
. An Fe atom has the mass 56 u.
Find the lattice constant and the nearest neighbor distance in bcc iron.
0.29 nm 0.25 nm

2. Assume that the atoms can be regarded as rigid spheres and find the
packing fraction for a bcc and a fcc crystal.
0.68 and 0.74


3. The unit cell for Cu (fcc) has the lattice constant 0.35 nm. Find the
longest x-ray wavelength that can give diffraction from the most close
packed planes. What set of planes can give diffraction when x-rays with
the wavelength 0.50 nm are used?
0.42 nm none

4. The lattice constant for a bcc crystal is 0.290 nm. If neutrons are used in
a diffraction experiment what is the smallest neutron energy that can give
diffraction from the (110) planes.
3.12 10
-21
J

5. The Bragg angle for a certain reflection from a powder of Cu decreased
from 47.75 to 46.60 degrees when the temperature of the sample was
increased from 20 degrees Celsius to 80 degrees Celsius. Find the linear
thermal expansion coefficient for Cu.
1.91 10
-5
per K

6. KCl and KBr are two alkali halides with NaCl structure. The following
reflexes were observed in a x-ray diffraction experiment:
KBr: (111) (200) (220) (311) (222) (400) (331) (420)
KCl: -- (200) (220) --- (222) (400) --- (420)
Explain the difference.
See the lecture notes that I give the students on Friday

7. The crystal structure for Si is diamond structure e g a fcc lattice with the
basis (000) and ( ). Find the first two Bragg angles in a Debye-
Scherrer experiment. The lattice constant for Si is 5,40 and the
wavelength of the x-rays is 1.54 .
The structure factor is the same as for fcc but h+k+l must not be an odd
multiple of 2 e g 2, 6, 10, 14
The two first reflexes come from (111) and (220). 14.3 and 23.8 degrees

8. Al has fcc structure with a = 3.9 at 300 K. The linear coefficient for Al is
25 10
-6
per K. How much does the Bragg angel for the (111) reflex change
if Al is studied with the Debye-Scherrer method if the wavelength 1.54
is used. If one wants to determine the expansion coefficient with the best
accuracy, which reflexes give the best result?


9. Sodium has the atom weight 39 u and the density 860 kg per cubic meter
and the electrons in sodium can be described with the free electron
model. Find the Fermi energy EF , the density of states at EF for a sample
that has the volume 1 cubic centimeter, find the density of states for one
mole of Na, how many percent of the free electrons in Na have energies
within kBT from EF at T = 300 K?
2.0 eV 6.1 10
40
per J 2%

10. Find the electron contribution to the specific heat for one mole of
Cu at 300 K. EF can be set at 7.0 eV. At what temperature are the electron
and the lattice contributions to the specific heat equal?
The lattice contribution is approximately 1941 (T/uD)
3
where uD is the
Debye temperature, uD for Cu is 349 K.

0.15 J/mole 3.3 K

11. Show that the Fermi wave vector kF is given by the expression
(3t
2
n)
1/3
.

12. The Hall coefficient for liquid Al is -3.9 10
-11
m
3
/As. At 77 K the
relaxation time (the average time between two scattering events) is
6.5 10
-14
s. What is the electric conductivity for Al at 77 K?

0.29 10
9
(Ohm meter)
-1

13. The Fermi energy for Al is 12 eV and the electric resistivity is
3.0 10
-8
Ohms per meter at T = 300K. Find the mean free path for the
conduction electrons and their average drift velocity in a electric field with
the strength E = 1000 V/m. The atomic weight for Al is 27 u and the
density is 2700 kg per cubic meter.
13 nm 1.1 m/s

14. Close to the bottom of the conduction band in a semiconductor
the relation between energy and wavenumber is E = A k
2
, where
A = 5 10
-37
J/m
2
. Find the effective mass and the ratio between the
effective mass and the ordinary electron mass.
0.01

15. A Ge sample that is very pure has intrinsic properties. At T = 300
K the longest wavelength that is absorbed by the sample is 1.818
micrometer. By how much must the temperature be increased if the
electric conductivity is to be increased by 20%?

4 degrees

16. A piece of silicon contains 10
-4
atomic percent P. Alle the P atoms
are ionized at room temperature. The electron mobility is 0.15 m
2
/Vs.
Find the extrinsic resistivity for the sample.

17. The Hall coefficient for liquid Al is -3.9
.
10
-11
m
3
/As. At 77 K the
relaxation time for the electrons (the time between two scatterings) is 6.5
10
-14
s. Find the electric conductivity for Al at 77K. 0.29 10
9
(Ohm m)
-1
.


18. Show that the unit for mobility, m
2
/Vs is consistent
with =e t/ m.


19. A Ge sample with very high purity is exposed to electromagnetic
radiation the threshold for absorption
1
is 5.5
.
10 m
-1
. The initial
temperature is 300K. How much must the temperature be raised if the
conductivity is to be increased by 20 %.
4 K




20. An n-doped sample of Ge contains 10
23
ionized donators per m
3
.
Estimate the ratio between the resistivity for this sample and a ultra-pure
Ge sample. For Ge n p = 10
38
m
-6
.
0.0001