17
Electrical Conductivity and Insulating Properties
17.1 INTRODUCTION
The property of ‘electric conduction’ is most important because by virtue of this property a material can transmit electric current under the applied electric field. There is a large variation of electric conduction from superconductors to semiconductors and conductors. The study of electric current is related with electron configuration, number of free electrons, electron bond energy and electron states. A valence bond is separated from an empty conduction band by a band gap. The energy of band gap is important to decide whether it is an insulator or a semiconductor. In the case of semiconductor or conductor, the electrons are excited and the excitation energy is greater ...
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