Solid State Electronic Devices, 7th Edition

2.4 Quantum Mechanics

The principles of quantum mechanics were developed from two different points of view at about the same time (the late 1920s). One approach, developed by Heisenberg, utilizes the mathematics of matrices and is called matrix mechanics. Independently, Schrödinger developed an approach utilizing a wave equation, now called wave mechanics. These two mathematical formulations appear to be quite different. However, closer examination reveals that beyond the formalism, the basic principles of the two approaches are the same. It is possible to show, for example, that the results of matrix mechanics reduce to those of wave mechanics after mathematical manipulation. We shall concentrate here on the wave mechanics approach, since solutions ...