Electron Transport: Measuring Resistance-Temperature Behaviour

Ivor Allan Jake Denham-Dyson: 737213

October 16, 2016

Introduction

Electron transport measurments underlie much of the design and manufacture of computing and electronic
equipment. Understanding how electrons move through materials and what affects their movement was the
precursor to our digitial world, however we have began to realize our computational limits with standard
materials and practices. The aim of this lab is to determine how the resistivity of different materials alters
with changing temperature and use this to investigate an unknown component.

Figure 1: Samsungs SUHD tv uses nanotube technology to provide a superior image. Understanding
electron transport in nanotubes is at the heart of cutting edge physics. (samsung.com)

2
2.1

Theory
Metals and Insulators

Electrons move with different amounts of freedom in different materials. Much of this is characterised
by the electron mobility and the outer structure of the atoms comprising the material. The measure of
how freely electrons move through a material is called conductivity and can be determined experimentally
by measuring its inverse - resistivity or theoretically as a function of carrier concentration and electron
mobility. Metals are conductors and are characterised by a high conductivity while insulators have a low
conductivity.
Resisitivity
Conductivity

2.2

Conductors

Insulators

Band Structure

The electrons of an atom occupy atomic orbitals which correspond to energy levels. We expect from quantum
mechanics that these energy levels are quantised. When several atoms are brought together there orbitals
begin to overlap and due to the pauli exclusion principle (Equation 1, - fermions & + bosons) electrons in
these orbitals cannot occupy the same energy levels therefore several closely spaced energy levels are formed
which allows us to treat them as a continuum (figure 2).
= 1 2 1 2

(1)

In a metal the valence band and conduction band overlap which allows for current flow while in insulators
a band gap is present and a large amount of energy is needed to induce a current (figure 3). There is a
third category of material where only a small amount of energy needs to be supplied to induce current flow
called a semi-conductor and can be thought of as having properties somewhere between a conductor and
insulator.
We wish to describe the population of thermally excited electrons and take the approach of dimensional
analysis. Our single assumption is that the change in the thermally excited electron population with respect
2

Figure 3: Band Gap

(Vik Dhillon, 16th December 2013)

Figure 2: Band Structure

(FAMU-FSU College of Engineering)

to energy is dependent on some way on the current population, temperature of the system and boltzmanns
constant.
ne := Excited Electrons (Particles)
E := Energy (Joules)
T := Temperature (Kelvins)
kb := Energy per Temperature increment - Boltzmanns Constant (Joules.Kelvins1 )

(P J 1 )a (P )b (K)c (JK 1 )d = 1
P a+b J a+d K cd = 1

a+b=0
a + d = 0
cd=0
a = b
a=d
a=c

a
a
1
b a 1
= = a
c a 1
d
a
1
Let a = 1, we have from the Buckingham-Pi theorem H(1 ) = 0.
dne
(ne )1 T kb + C0 = 0
dE
C 1 ne
dne
=
dE
T kb
dne
C1
=
dE
ne
T kb
ne
C1
ln
=
E0 E1
n0
T kb
ne = n0 e
3

C1 E
T kb

(2)

C1 = 1 as kb is the energy per temperature increment, it can view as being absorbed into the value of kb or
determined experimentally to be 1.
ne = n0 e
Noting that Conductivity

1
Resistance

E
kb T

(3)

ne we have
E

(4)

R = R0 e kb T
We can linearize this model by imposing
R
R
=
T
T
R
R =
T
T
Set T0 = 0
R = R0 +

2.3

R
T
T

Thermocouples

Thermocouples are electrical analogues of thermometers. The principle on which they operate is called the
Seebeck effect (named after German physicist Thomas Seebeck), between two pieces of metal with each end
at different temperatures an electrical current will flow. This can be restated formally, the temperature
gradient is proportional to the voltage gradient.
V = S(T )T

(5)

Figure 4: A Thermocouple

3
3.1

Experimental Setup
Apparatus

We see the general structure of the experiment below. A copper-constantan thermalcouple is used to
measure the temperature of the samples at a reference temperature given by that of ice bath. The voltage
is recorded by a high precision digital voltage which is logged by the computer. A pressure gauge and
liquid bulb thermometer are used to measure the ambient pressure and temperature respectively. Samples
are placed in the cryostat and are either heated using the resitive heater or cooled by being placed in the
nitrogen dewar. The urn element boils liquid nitrogen allowing the gaseous nitrogen to come into contact
with cryostat cooling the samples more rapidly than waiting for the air around the cryostat to reach thermal
equilibrium with the liquid nitrogen. By passing a known current through the samples and measuring the
voltage across each sample the resistance can be determined. Calibration of the thermocouple is performed
by measuring three points of known temperature (as the relationship between the voltage and temperature
contains three unknown constants).
P (Pa)
T (K)

1
37

10
41

100
46

1000
53

10000
62

100 000
77

Figure 5: Black Box Experimental Setup

3.1.1

Procedure

1. Switch on computer and start the temperature acquisition program, graphing software (Kaleidagraph)
and Microsoft Excel.
2. Ambient Temperature and Pressure.
(a) Use the bulb thermometer to measure the ambient temperature.
(b) Use the thermocouple to measure the ambient temperature
(c) Use the pressure gauge to measure the ambient pressure.
3. Determine the boiling point of liquid nitrogen.
(a) Use the data above and Kaleidagraph to find the value of the constants in
B
C +T
B
T =
C
A log10 P

log10 P = A

4. Calibration
(a) Place the meauring junction in the ice bath for three minutes and record the voltage.
(b) Place the meauring junction in the liquid nitrogen bath for three minutes and record the voltage.
(c) Using these two points, and the ambient temperature use Kaleidagraph to interpolate over these
points and obtain the temperature as a function of voltage in the range of intrest.
5. Cooling
(a) Set the VARIAC to 60 V until the thermocouple reads 4.9mV over a period of ten minutes.

Results

4.1

Raw Data

Resistor (V)
44.5
44.8
45.0
45.0
43.9
45.0
42.4
41.0
39.7
38.9
38.1
36.3
35.2
34.2
33..4
32.9
32.0
31.0
30.3
29.8
29.4
28.5
27.7
27.2
26.8

4.2

Ambient Temperature := 17C @ 0.6672mV

(6)

Ambient Pressure := 840mbar = 84000Pa

(7)

Semi-Conductor (V)
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
3.186 108
1.664 108
3.24 107
1.2 107
4.6 106
2.2 106
1.2 106
5.68 106
2.06 106
94400
49200
29800
1154
486
254
169.2

Copper (V)
72.2
72.4
71.7
71.7
72.2
71.7
67.8
70.2
72.4
72.5
75.2
75.9
76.1
72.0
72.6
72.4
74.0
75.6
77.1
78.5
79.9
83.1
86.6
89.1
91.0

Thermocouple Voltage (mV)

-5.1326
5.1463
-5.1112
-5.1112
-4.9532
-5.112
-4.7752
-4.6434
-4.5208
-4.4
-4.2795
-3.972
-3.7504
-3.5087
-3.295
-3.13291
-2.748
-2.369
-2, 361
-1.7204
-1.4618
-0.8632
-0.2857
-0.0122
0.434

Calculating The Boiling Point of Liquid Nitrogen

Listing 1: Obtaining Calibration Values and Plotting Temperature over Time

T [ P_ ] := (278.86/(8.9287 - Log [10 , P ])) - ( -5.7876)
T [84000]
Plot [ T [ P ] , {P , 20000 , 100000}]

Giving TBoiling Nitrogen = 75.42.

Figure 6: Relationship between Vapour Pressure and Temperature for Nitrogen

4.3

Generate Calibration Curve for Thermocouple Voltages

Listing 2: Calibration Curver

T [ V_ ] := 273.15 + 26.53* V - 1.55554* V 2
Show [ Plot [ T [ V ] , {V , -6 , 1}] ,
ListPlot [{{0.6672 , 17 + 273.15} , {0.00006 , 273.15} , { -5.6100 ,
75.42}}]

Figure 7: Calibration Curve of Thermocouple

4.4

Defining Raw Data

Listing 3: Raw Data

dataR = {44.5 , 44.8 , 45.0 , 45 , 43.9 , 45 , 42.4 , 41 , 39.7 , 38.9 , 38.1 ,
36.3 , 35.2 , 34.2 , 33.4 , 32.9 , 32.0 , 31 , 30.3 , 29.8 , 29.4 , 28.5 ,
27.7 , 27.2 , 26.8}
dataSC = { Missing [] , Missing [] , Missing [] , Missing [] , Missing [] ,
Missing [] , Missing [] , Missing [] , Missing [] , 15.93*(20*106) ,
8.32*(20*106) , 1.62*(20*106) , 0.6*(20*106) , 0.23*(20*106) ,
0.11*(20*106) , 0.06*(20*106) , 28.4*(200*103) , 10.3*(200*103) ,
4.72*(20*103) , 2.46*(20*103) , 1.49*(20*103) , 0.577*(2*103) ,
0.243*(2*103) , 0.127*(2*103) , 84.6*(2)}
dataM = {72.2 , 72.4 , 71.7 , 71.7 , 72.2 , 71.7 , 67.8 , 70.2 , 72.4 , 72.5 ,
75.2 , 75.9 , 76.1 , 72 , 72.6 , 72.4 , 74 , 75.6 , 77.1 , 78.5 , 79.9 , 83.1 ,
86.6 , 89.1 , 91}
dataV = { -5.1326 , -5.1463 , -5.1112 , -5.1112 , -4.9532 , -5.112 , \
-4.7752 , -4.6434 , -4.5208 , -4.4 , -4.2795 , -3.972 , -3.7504 , -3.5087 , \
-3.295 , -3.13291 , -2.748 , -2.369 , -2.0361 , -1.7204 , -1.4618 , -0.8632 , \
-0.2857 , -0.0122 , 0.434}

4.5

Applying the Calibration Curve to Raw Data

Listing 4: Applying the Calibration Curve

dataT = Map [ T [#] & , dataV ]

Changes the raw thermocouple voltage data to temperature data using the calibration curve.

4.6

Fitting the Data

Listing 5: Nonlinear Models of a Resistor and Semi-Conductor and a Linear Model of

Copper
x = NonlinearModelFit [
DeleteDuplicates [ Partition [ Riffle [ dataT , dataR ] , 2]] ,
a *E ( b / t ) , {a , b } , t ]
y = NonlinearModelFit [
DeleteDuplicates [
Delete [ Partition [ Riffle [ dataT , dataSC ] ,
2] , {{1} , {2} , {3} , {4} , {5} , {6} , {7} , {8} , {9}}]] ,
a *E ( b / t ) , {a , b } , t ]
z = LinearModelFit [ Partition [ Riffle [ dataT , dataM ] , 2] , t , t ]
Models the observed resistance as a function of T (Temperature) using aeb/T for the resistor and semiconductor and a + bT for copper.
We have 21.6757e71.631/T , 3.13467e2329.21/T and 0.0850715T + 61.7364 respectively.

4.7

Plotting Models against Data

Listing 6: Model vs Data

Show [ Plot [ x [ t ] , {t , 90 , 300}] ,

ListPlot [{ Partition [ Riffle [ dataT , dataR ] , 2]}]]
Show [ Plot [ y [ t ] , {t , 90 , 300}] ,
ListPlot [{ Partition [ Riffle [ dataT , dataSC ] , 2]}]]
Show [ Plot [ z [ t ] , {t , 90 , 300}] ,
ListPlot [{ Partition [ Riffle [ dataT , dataM ] , 2]}]]

Figure 8: Resistor

Figure 9: Semi-Conductor

Figure 10: Copper

4.8

Error

Listing 7: Residuals
ListPlot [ x [ " StandardizedResiduals " ] , Filling -> Axis ]
ListPlot [ y [ " StandardizedResiduals " ] , Filling -> Axis ]
ListPlot [ z [ " StandardizedResiduals " ] , Filling -> Axis ]

Plotting the standardized residuals we see the deviations from our predicted models.

Figure 11: Resistor

Figure 12: Semi-Conductor

Figure 13: Copper

10

4.9

Determination of Parameters

Listing 8: EGap
kb = 1.38064852*10 -23;
Solve [71.631 == e / kb , e ][[1 , 1 , 2]]*6.241509*1018
Solve [2329.21 == e / kb , e ][[1 , 1 , 2]]*6.241509*1018

For the standard resistor we expect R0 = 21.6752 and EGap = 0.00617268eV.

For the semi-conductor we expect R0 = 3.13467 and EGap = 0.200716eV.
1
.
For Copper we expect R0 = 61.7364 and R
T = = 0.08507156K

Discussion

New Physics

11