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Why is Fermi level referred to as electrochemical potential
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Asked by Anonymous - 1 year ago - 1 response
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Posted on 21 September, 2007 by Arash Hazeghi
+1 -2 Login to vote chemical potential has a neat thermodynamical definition, the chemical potential associated with the ith species is the contribution to the internal energy of the system from the ith specie when volume, entropy and other species are kept constant. In particle physics chemical potential is used to describe the distribution of electrons which at thermal equilibrium, have a Fermi-Dirac distribution.
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On the other hand, in solid state physics, Fermi level is referred to as the the highest energy level occupied in the ground state of an N electron system at 0K. when temperature increases electrons are excited to higher energies and will have a Fermi-Dirac distribution. some books in Electrical Engineering choose to call the chemical potential in the F-D distribution the "Fermi level" however it should be noted that this is no longer the last energy level occupied but a potential with which electrons are in thermal equilibrium. This potential might even be imposed on the system from outside and is not necessarily a sole property of the system alone. It should be noted that there is no Fermi level or single chemical potential at non-equilibrium situations such as carrier transport.