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Conductors
A substance or object that allows electricity to flow through it with low resistance is
called conductor. In a conductor current can flow freely. They contain free electrons.
“Conductor” implies that the outer electrons of the atoms are loosely bound and free
to move through the material.

EXAMPLES
Metals are very good conductors of electricity, such as silver, copper, iron and
aluminum. A macro scale example is a Resistivity (ohm m)
copper wire while certain kinds of nanotubes are
molecular conductors. In copper, the valence Glass 1012
electrons are essentially free and strongly repel
each other. Any external influence which moves Mica 9 x 1013
one of them will cause a repulsion of other Quartz (fused) 5 x 1016
electrons which propagates, "domino fashion"
through the conductor.
Resistivity (ohm m)
The conductivity of the conductors is of the
order 107 mho/m. Copper 1.7 x 10-8

Insulators
Most solid materials are classified as insulators because they offer very large resistance
to the flow of electric current. In most materials even the outermost electrons are so
tightly bound that there is essentially zero electron flow through them with ordinary
voltages. Some materials are particularly good insulators and can be characterized by
their high resistivities:
Resistivity (ohm m)
EXAMPLES
Glass 1012
Dry wood, diamond, glass, mica and polythene
and most of the non-metals are good insulators.
Mica 9 x 1013
The conductivity of insulators is very low, Quartz (fused) 5 x 1016
ranging between 10-10 to 10-20 ohm/m. their
electrical resistivity is of the order of 1010 to 1020 ohm/
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Semiconductors
Semiconductor is a material that has a resistivity value between that of a
conductor and an insulator. The conductivity of a semiconductor material can be
varied under an external electrical field. Devices made from semiconductor
materials are the foundation of modern electronics, including radio, computers,
telephones, and many other devices.

In a metallic conductor, current is carried by the flow of electrons. In

semiconductors, current can be carried either by the flow of electrons or by the flow
of positively-charged "holes" in the electron structure of the material.

EXAMPLES

Germanium and silicon are important semiconductors. Their conductivity lies

between insulators and conductors. They have conductivity in the range of 10-4 to
10-6 mho/m .

Energy bands
Energy bands consisting of a large number of closely spaced energy levels exist in
crystalline materials. The bands can be thought of as the collection of the individual
energy levels of electrons surrounding each atom. The energy levels, which were
sharp for individual atoms are broadened to become energy bands with forbidden
energy bands, known as valence bands, and the higher unoccupied bands are known
as conduction bands.

Conductors, insulators and semiconductors can now be classified on the basis of

these energy bands.
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1-Conductor Energy Bands

In terms of the band theory of solids, metals are unique as good
conductors of electricity. This can be seen to be a result of their
valence electrons being essentially free. In the band theory, this is
depicted as an overlap of the valence band and the conduction
band so that at least a fraction of the valence electrons can move
through the material.

2- Insulator Energy Bands

Most solid substances are insulators, and in terms of the band theory of
solids this implies that there is a large forbidden gap between the energies
of the valence electrons and the energy at which the electrons can move .
freely through the material (the conduction band).

3-Semiconductor Energy Bands

For intrinsic semiconductors like silicon and germanium, the Fermi level
is essentially halfway between the valence and conduction bands. Although no
conduction occurs at 0 K, at higher temperatures a finite number of electrons can
reach the conduction band and provide some current. In doped semiconductors, extra
energy levels are added.

The increase in conductivity with temperature can be modeled in

terms of the Femi functions, which allows one to calculate the
population of the conduction band
.

The End