The electrical conductivity of an ordinary metal such as gold is usually thought to be well understood. The electrons form a Fermi sea made up of plane waves modulated by the periodic crystal lattice. Because electrons obey Fermi statistics, only a narrow band of them, with an energy within of the Fermi energy, contributes to the conductivity. At room temperature these electrons are scattered by lattice vibrations, resulting in a loss of momentum and a nonzero resistivity At low temperatures electron‐electron scattering is the dominant scattering mechanism. In the limiting case of zero temperature there is a residual resistivity caused by the scattering of the electrons at the Fermi energy by lattice imperfections such as impurities and vacancies. The static defects that disrupt the translational symmetry of the crystalline lattice are the source of the disorder considered in this article.
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December 1988
December 01 1988
Disordered Electronic Systems
Quantum mechanical coherence of electron wavefunctions in materials with imperfections has led to major revisions in the theory of electrical conductivity and to novel phenomena in submicron devices.
Boris L. Al'tshuler;
Boris L. Al'tshuler
Leningrad Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Academy of Sciences, USSR
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Patrick A. Lee
Patrick A. Lee
MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts
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Boris L. Al'tshuler
Patrick A. Lee
Leningrad Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Academy of Sciences, USSR
Physics Today 41 (12), 36–44 (1988);
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Boris L. Al'tshuler, Patrick A. Lee; Disordered Electronic Systems. Physics Today 1 December 1988; 41 (12): 36–44. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.881139
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