Highest energy continuum of energy levels in a solid that is fully occupied by
electrons at
.
Notes:
- The valence band is lower in energy than the conduction band and is generally
completely full in semiconductors. When heated, electrons from the valence band
jump out of the band across the band gap and into the conduction band, making the
material conductive. The Fermi level separates the valence band from the conduction band.
- In metals the valence band is the conduction band.
- Sample characterized by a (unique) sample axis Z with all directions
perpendicular to Z being equivalent. In other words, the sample properties are
invariant to rotation around Z. Uniaxiality exists in many anisotropic samples and
simplifies the interpretation of their spectra considerably.
Source:
PAC, 2007, 79, 293
(Glossary of terms used in photochemistry, 3rd edition (IUPAC Recommendations 2006))
on page 438
Cite as:
IUPAC. Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 2nd ed. (the "Gold Book"). Compiled by
A. D. McNaught and A. Wilkinson. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford (1997).
XML on-line corrected version: http://goldbook.iupac.org (2006-) created by M. Nic,
J. Jirat, B. Kosata; updates compiled by A. Jenkins. ISBN 0-9678550-9-8.
https://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.
