Please give me adivice on solid state physics learning resources

[henrywang]

My university lecturer is very new, his lectures and notes are hard to follow and understand. He was a replacement to the old solid state physics lecturer and has designed the module from scratch, so it is unpolished in its current form. Can you please suggest some alternative resources substituting his lectures? It can be video lectures, notes, textbooks. Thank you!

Syllabus Plan

1. Introduction
   Brief historical survey.
2. Crystal Structures
   1. Direct and reciprocal lattices (Revision)
   2. General features of scattering by solids (Revision)
   3. Scattered-wave amplitude, structure factor, form factor
   4. Brillouin zones
3. Free-electron model
   1. Free-electron Fermi gas
   2. Energy dispersion in k-space
   3. Reduced and extended zones
   4. Effective mass
   5. Density of states
   6. Electron-distribution function; Fermi level
   7. Heat capacity
4. Nearly-Free-Electron Model
   1. Effect of crystal potential on the free-electron picture
   2. Bloch electron
   3. Origin of energy-band gaps
   4. Holes
5. Band Picture for Classification of Solids
   1. Formation of energy bands in solids
   2. Band picture for insulators, semiconductors and metals
6. Fermi surfaces
   1. Fermi surfaces in metals
   2. Harrison's construction of the Fermi sphere
7. Intrinsic and Extrinsic Semiconductors
   1. Donor and acceptor levels in semiconductors; ionization energy of a donor electron, and the Bohr radius
   2. Free-charge-carrier concentration and the Fermi level at different temperatures
   3. The significance of the Fermi level; band structure of a p-n junction
   4. Elementary Optical Properties of Semiconductors: Fundamental absorption; direct and indirect transitions; absorption coefficient; recombination
8. Phonons
   1. Lattice vibrations of the monatomic linear chain
   2. Diatomic linear chain.
   3. Lattice vibrations of three-dimensional crystals
      1. Longitudinal and transverse phonons;
      2. Plotting of dispersion relations
   4. Heat Capacity
9. Transport Properties (Electrical and Thermal)
   1. Relaxation times: phonon/lattice; electronic
   2. Drift and diffusion in semiconductors; the Einstein relation
   3. Thermal conduction in semiconductors and insulators
   4. Drift and thermal conduction in metals
   5. The Wiedemann-Franz law
10. Introduction to Nanostructures and Nanomaterials
    1. Quantum Wells, Wires and Dots
    2. Carbon nanotubes
    3. Graphene

 

[ZapperZ]

My university lecturer is very new, his lectures and notes are hard to follow and understand. He was a replacement to the old solid state physics lecturer and has designed the module from scratch, so it is unpolished in its current form. Can you please suggest some alternative resources substituting his lectures? It can be video lectures, notes, textbooks. Thank you!

It is rather difficult for us to suggest alternative textbooks when you don't tell us what textbook you are currently using, isn't it?

Zz.

 

[Dr Transport]

Looks like a standard course in solid state physics, pretty much anywhere. I'd start with Kittel. He covers all of it except for the nano-structures/materials.