IRMGR41618 Solid State Physics and its impact on Modern Energy Technologies (Spring 2025)

The course is connected to the following study programs

Master in Green Energy Technology (Compulsory in Materials for Energy Technology profile).

Recommended requirements

An advanced knowledge and skills in physics and advanced mathematics.

Lecture Semester

Second semester (spring).

The student's learning outcomes after completing the course

Knowledge:

The student

• has advanced knowledge of some central topics of solid state physics

• has a broad overview of application and contemporary development related to energy technologies.

 

Skills:

The student

• can disseminate main ideas and principles related to materials associated with energy technologies

• can use advanced methods for material choice using the material database GRANTA

• can analyze and evaluate materials with various sets of criteria or material indexes

• can conduct preliminary scientific analysis and technical evaluation of materials associated with energy technologies

• can make proper evaluation of technical constructions/instrumentations associated with energy technologies

• is capable to participate actively in scientific research and development.

 

General competence:

The student can communicate and disseminate in their independent practice in research and development.

Content

The course provides an introduction to solid state physics and its application to the modern energy technologies. The emphasis is placed on the understanding of the fundamental phenomena and corresponding principles related to the contemporary development in materials science.

 

The course will focus on following subjects:

 

Part I: Fundamentals

• periodic structure, and associated reciprocal space, and its application in diffraction experiment

• lattices/defects in real materials and their roles in thermo-/electrical conductivity

• free Fermi electron gas theory. State density and Fermi level and their relation to electrical conductivity

• electron in periodic potentials: Energy band, band-gap and classification of materials

• semiconductors: Band-gap, Charge carrier, doping, p-n joint and photovoltage effect

• reciprocal lattices and its determination and the concept Brillouin-zones

• equilibrium concentration of point defects and its relationship with temperature and pressure

• diffusion processes and Ficks laws

• heat capacity originated from lattice vibration and thermo-conductivity

• periodic potential and formation of energy band structure

• Brillouin zone boundary and band-gap

• classification of metals, semiconductors and insulator. In terms of band structure

• charged carrier distribution in intrinsic and doped semiconductors. Electron holes and their roles in diodes p-n joint

• phenomena in low dimension materials

• phenomena in nanomaterials.

 

Part II: Specific application areas 

Subjects can be one of the following: 

• superconductor

• solar cell technology

• LED technology

• battery storage technology

• functional nanomaterials.

 

Part III: Methodology for industrial applications:

• GRANTA material database and material choices.

Forms of teaching and learning

The first part of the course (Fundamentals) will be given by a combination of lectures, exercises and home assignments.

 

The second part of the course (Applications) will be group work where students will conduct intensive literature search on a self-chosen application field. A technical report will be written, and the report will provide a proper review of the literature together with an analysis or evaluation for national technological development in the field. This work will be supervised by the lecturer.

 

The third part of the course (Methodology) will be given as a workshop or seminar where various methods for defining material indexes in each application area will be discussed and be implement/tested. The results and discussions will be documented by a short but highly specialized technical report.

Workload

250-300 hours.

Coursework requirements - conditions for taking the exam

One home assignment, individual

Two home assignments, group

Examination

This exam consists of two parts:

• Partial exam 1: Individual written mid-term exam 3 hours. 50% of the evaluation. Allowed materials under examination: Personal assignment file.

• Partial exam 2:Group scientific review reports. 50% of the evaluation.

The students will receive one grade for each partial exam and one final grade for the course as a whole.

Grades from A to F, where A is the best grade, E is the lowest passed grade, and F is failed.

Examiners

One internal and one external examiner or two internal. 

Conditions for resit/rescheduled exams

If the student fails Partial exam 1, they can re-take this exam in the same semester.

If the student fails Partial exam 2, they can revise the reports one time.

In this case, a second evaluation and final grading will be arranged in August the following semester.

Course evaluation

The course will be evaluated by a standardized electronic form.

Literature

The current reading list for 2023 Spring can be found in Leganto