Free Electron Theory of Metals

Rajendra Adhikari
December 9, 2015

Drudes Theory of Metals

In this model electrons are considered as solid spheres as gas molecules in

kinetic theory of ideal gas. These spheres move in a straight line until they
collide one another. Despite its simplicity it theory is highly successful in explaining electrical and thermal conductivity of metals. In this theory ions are
surrounded by core electrons and outermost electron considered as valance
electrons in atomic context and conduction electrons in metallic context are
free to roam on the body of metal. These free electrons are considered as
electron gas.
Few assumptions of Drudes theory are as follows:
Electrons are independent and they are free. Here meaning of independent is there is no interaction among electrons. Free electrons do not
bind to the ions cores as they are surrounded by core (inner) electrons.
There is no electron-electron and electron-ion scatterings. Even if there
is it is least important for metals. Scattering happens when velocity of
an electron is deviated by the presence of another electron or ion.
There is collision between electrons. In collisions if an electron during
its motion bounced another electron the previous electrons velocity
changes abruptly (randomly).
Electrons are believed to in thermal equilibrium with their surroundings
only through collisions.

DC Electrical Conductivity

DC electrical conductivity of metals are characterized by Ohms law, V = IR,

where V is the applied voltage, I is the current and R is the resistance
1

of the metal. Resistance R depends only on the geometry. The geometry

independent form of Ohms law can be expressed by the following equation.
J = E

(1)

where E is the applied electric field and J is the current per unit area.
Proportionality constant is called the conductivity of material. It is evident
that field and current are in the same direction. If they are not parallel to
each other then will be tensor. It can be shown easily that
J = nev

(2)

where n is number of electrons, e is electronic charge and v is average electronic velocity. From Newtons second law of motion the average velocity of
an electron can be written as:
v=

eE
m

(3)

Where is the average time between two successive collisions or simply

relaxation time and m is the mass of electron. Substituting average velocity
from Eq. 3 to Eq. 2, we have
J=

ne2
E
m

(4)

Comparing Eq. 1 and Eq. 4 we find the value of conductivity

=

ne2
m

(5)

This way we can find the conductivity of material up to the knowledge of .

For typical metals its value ranges between 1014 to 1015 sec.

Change in Momentum of Electrons

Consider an electron in tim dependent and spatially uniform electric E(t)

or magnetic filed H(t). At any time t the conductivity j can be expressed
in terms of time dependent momentum p(t)/m = v(t). Hence the current
density is given by
nep(t)
j=
(6)
m
The momentum per electron after infinitesimal time dt can be p(t + dt).
During the interval dt the electron will have collision probability dt/ , which
2

dt
. The electron acquires an

2
additional momentum f(t)dt O(dt) under the influence of force f(t), where
O(dt)2 is the second order term and can be neglected. The momentum per
electron is them p(t) + f(t)dt. Therefore momentum at time t + dt is given
by the product of survival probability and momentum after the application
of force as below:


dt
[p(t) + f(t)dt]
p(t + dt) =
1

dt
= p(t) p(t) + f(t)dt

means it will survive with a probability 1

dt
f (t)dt will not affect the terms of linear order

dt
in dt we can simplify the above equation by p(t+dt)p(t) = p(t)+f(t)dt.

Dividing both sides by dt and taking limit dt 0.

With the approximation that

dp(t)
p(t)
=
+ f(t)
dt

(7)

Eqn. 7 gives shows that the effect of individual collisions is to introduce a

fractional damping term into the equation of motion for the momentum per
1
electron, with a damping factor is being . This equation is very useful to

study the behavior of electrons under electric or magnetic fields.

Hall Effect

When a current (along xaxis) carrying sheet is subject to an magnetic field

perpendicular to its plane then there is development of electric field along
yaxis of the sheet. This effect is called Hall effect and is first observed by
E. H Hall in 1879. Its mathematical formulation is based on Lorentzs force
and change in momentum of an electron in presence of external force. In cgs
e
units F = v H. Dut to this force the electrons traveling along xaxis
c
deflect on y direction and develop a field along Ey to balance the Lorentz
force.
we define the Hall coefficient by
RH =

Ey
jx H

(8)

To find the RH and (H), magneto resistance we proceed with Eq. 7 and
Lorentz force as below.

 p
dp
p
= e E +
H
(9)
dt
mc

For the steady state condition (when the current saturates on the conductor)
dp
will be zero and Eq. 9 would take the form
dt
px

py
0 = eEy c px

0 = eEx c py

(10)

eH
is the cyclotron resonance frequency. We multiply Eq. 10
mc
ne
both sides by
and converting momentum in to current densities, we
m
have
where c =

0 Ex = c jy + jx
0 Ey = c jx + jy

(11)

where 0 is the DC conductivity in absence of magnetic field. As there is no

transverse current (jy = 0) the Hall field Ey can be written as
Ey =

H
c
jx =
jx
0
nec

(12)

Therefore the Hall coefficient RH will be

RH =

1
nec

(13)

From Eq. 13 it is clear that RH depends only type of charge and its concentration i.e. independent of many other metallic properties.

AC Electrical Conductivity

AC field of the form E(r) = Re{E()eit } is an external field that could

changes the momentum of an electron according to equation
dp(t)
p
= eE(t)
dt
t
4

(14)

The solution of the Eq. 14 is of the form p(t) = Re{p()eit }. After

this substitution above differential equation converts to algebraic equation
p()
p
ip() =
eE(). As the current density j = ne , it can be

m
written in the form like E(t) and p(t), therefore
j() =

nep()
(ne2 /m)E()
=
m
(1/ ) i

(15)

By comparing the above equation with DC conductivity equation() j = E)

and for AC we can write similarly as j() = ()E(), where () is the
AC conductivity and given by
() =

0
1 i

(16)

ne2
is the DC conductivity. From Eq. 16 it is very important
where 0 =
m
to see that at zero frequency AC conductivity changes to DC conductivity.

Fermi-Dirac Distribution Function

This distribution gives the probability that an orbital at energy level will
be occupied in a ideal electron gas in thermal equilibrium. The distribution
has the following mathematical form.
F () =

1
e()/KB T )

+1

(17)

where is the reference energy level, also a function of temperature. Its value
is chosen such that total number of electrons in the system be correct. At
absolute temperature (T = 0K) = EF , where EF is the Fermi level, which
is the energy of highest occupied orbit at absolute zero. The variable is
also called the chemical potential, the energy required to add or remove one
particle to/from the system.
At very high temperature where ( )  KB T , F-D distribution converts to Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution F () = e()/KB T .

Density of States