Fermi energy

Not to be confused with Fermi level.

The Fermi energy is a concept in quantum mechanics usually referring to the energy dierence between the highest and lowest occupied single-particle states in a quantum system of non-interacting fermions at absolute zero
temperature. In a Fermi gas, the lowest occupied state is taken to have zero kinetic energy, whereas in a metal,
the lowest occupied state is typically taken to mean the bottom of the conduction band.
Confusingly, the term Fermi energy is often used to refer to a dierent but closely related concept, the Fermi level
(also called electrochemical potential).[1] There are a few key dierences between the Fermi level and Fermi energy,
at least as they are used in this article:
The Fermi energy is only dened at absolute zero, while the Fermi level is dened for any temperature.
The Fermi energy is an energy dierence (usually corresponding to a kinetic energy), whereas the Fermi level
is a total energy level including kinetic energy and potential energy.
The Fermi energy can only be dened for non-interacting fermions (where the potential energy or band edge is
a static, well dened quantity), whereas the Fermi level (the electrochemical potential of an electron) remains
well dened even in complex interacting systems, at thermodynamic equilibrium.
Since the Fermi level in a metal at absolute zero is the energy of the highest occupied single particle state, then the
Fermi energy in a metal is the energy dierence between the Fermi level and lowest occupied single-particle state, at
zero-temperature.

1
1.1

Introduction
Context

In quantum mechanics, a group of particles known as fermions (for example, electrons, protons and neutrons) obey
the Pauli exclusion principle. This states that two fermions cannot occupy the same quantum state. Since an idealized
non-interacting Fermi gas can be analyzed in terms of single-particle stationary states, we can thus say that two
fermions cannot occupy the same stationary state. These stationary states will typically be distinct in energy. To nd
the ground state of the whole system, we start with an empty system, and add particles one at a time, consecutively
lling up the unoccupied stationary states with the lowest energy. When all the particles have been put in, the Fermi
energy is the kinetic energy of the highest occupied state.
What this means is that even if we have extracted all possible energy from a Fermi gas by cooling it to near absolute
zero temperature, the fermions are still moving around at a high speed. The fastest ones are moving at a velocity
corresponding to a kinetic energy equal to the Fermi energy. This is the Fermi velocity. Only when the temperature
exceeds the Fermi temperature do the electrons begin to move signicantly faster than at absolute zero.
The Fermi energy is one of the important concepts in the solid state physics of metals and superconductors. It is also
a very important quantity in the physics of quantum liquids like low temperature helium (both normal and superuid
3
He), and it is quite important to nuclear physics and to understanding the stability of white dwarf stars against
gravitational collapse.
1

1.2

THREE-DIMENSIONAL CASE

Advanced context

The Fermi energy (EF) of a system of non-interacting fermions is the increase in the ground state energy when
exactly one particle is added to the system, minus the potential energy of that particle. It can also be interpreted as
the maximum kinetic energy of an individual fermion in this ground state. The internal chemical potential at zero
temperature is equal to the Fermi energy.

Illustration of the concept for a one-dimensional square well

The one-dimensional innite square well of length L is a model for a one-dimensional box. It is a standard modelsystem in quantum mechanics for which the solution for a single particle is well known. The levels are labeled by a
single quantum number n and the energies are given by

En = E0 +

2 2 2
n .
2mL2

where E0 is the potential energy level inside the box.

Suppose now that instead of one particle in this box we have N particles in the box and that these particles are fermions
with spin 1/2. Then not more than two particles can have the same energy, i.e., two particles can have the energy of
E1 , two other particles can have energy E2 and so forth. The reason that two particles can have the same energy is
that a particle can have a spin of 1/2 (spin up) or a spin of 1/2 (spin down), leading to two states for each energy
level. In the conguration for which the total energy is lowest (the ground state), all the energy levels up to n = N/2
are occupied and all the higher levels are empty.
Dening the reference for the Fermi energy to be E0 , the Fermi energy is therefore given by

EF = EN /2 E0 =

2 2
(N /2)2 ,
2mL2

for an odd number of electrons (N 1), for an even number of electrons (N).

Three-dimensional case

The three-dimensional isotropic case is known as the Fermi sphere.

Let us now consider a three-dimensional cubical box that has a side length L (see innite square well). This turns out
to be a very good approximation for describing electrons in a metal. The states are now labeled by three quantum
numbers nx, ny, and nz. The single particle energies are
( 2
)
2 2
Enx ,ny ,nz = E0 + 2mL
nx + n2y + n2z
2
nx, ny, nz are positive integers. There are multiple states with the same energy, for example
E211 = E121 = E112 . Now lets put N non-interacting fermions of spin 1/2 into this box.
To calculate the Fermi energy, we look at the case where N is large.
If we introduce a vector n = {nx , ny , nz } then each quantum state corresponds to a point in 'n-space' with energy

En = E0 +

2 2
|n|2
2mL2

With |n|2 denoting the square of the usual Euclidean length ( n2x + n2y + n2z )2 . The number of states with energy
less than EF + E 0 is equal to the number of states that lie within a sphere of radius |nF | in the region of n-space
where nx, ny, nz are positive. In the ground state this number equals the number of fermions in the system.

N =2

1 4 3
n
8 3 F

the factor of two is once again because there are two spin states, the factor of 1/8 is because only 1/8 of the sphere

Fermi
Surface

The free fermions that occupy the lowest energy states form a sphere in momentum space. The surface of this sphere is the Fermi
surface.

lies in the region where all n are positive. We nd

(
nF =

3N

)1/3

so the Fermi energy is given by

2 2 2
2 2
EF =
n
=
F
2mL2
2mL2

3N

)2/3

ARBITRARY-DIMENSIONAL CASE

Which results in a relationship between the Fermi energy and the number of particles per volume (when we replace
L2 with V 2/3 ):

The total energy of a Fermi sphere of N fermions is given by

Et = N E0 +

EF dN =

)
3
EF + E0 N
5

Therefore, the average energy of an electron is given by:

3
Eav = E0 + EF
5

Related quantities

Using this denition of Fermi Energy, various related quantities can be useful. The Fermi temperature is dened
as:

TF =

EF
kB

where kB is the Boltzmann constant and EF the Fermi energy. The Fermi temperature can be thought of as the
temperature at which thermal eects are comparable to quantum eects associated with Fermi statistics.[2] The Fermi
temperature for a metal is a couple of orders of magnitude above room temperature.
Other quantities dened in this context are Fermi momentum and Fermi velocity:

pF =
vF =

2me EF
pF
me

where me is the mass of the electron. These quantities are the momentum and group velocity, respectively, of a
fermion at the Fermi surface. The Fermi momentum can also be described as pF = kF , where kF is the radius of
the Fermi sphere and is called the Fermi wave vector.[3]
These quantities are not well-dened in cases where the Fermi surface is non-spherical. In the case of the quadratic
dispersion relations given above, they are given by:[4]

Arbitrary-dimensional case

Using a volume integral on d dimensions, we can nd the state density:

g(E) = 2

(
)
ddk
2k 2
d md/2 (E E0 )d/21

=
V
0
(2)d /V
2m
(2)d/2 (d/2 + 1)d

By then looking for the number of particles, we can extract the Fermi energy: n =

EF =

) )2/d
22 ( 1 ( d
2 +1 n
2
m

E0 +EF
E0

g(E) dE To get:

Typical Fermi energies

6.1

Metals

The number density N /V of conduction electrons in metals ranges between approximately 1028 and 1029 electrons/m3 ,
which is also the typical density of atoms in ordinary solid matter. This number density produces a Fermi energy of
the order:

EF =

6.2

2 ( 2 28 29 3 )2/3
3 10
m
2 10 eV
2me

White dwarfs

Stars known as white dwarfs have mass comparable to our Sun, but have about a hundredth of its radius. The high
densities means that the electrons are no longer bound to single nuclei and instead form a degenerate electron gas.
The number density of electrons in a white dwarf is of the order of 1036 electrons/m3 . This means their Fermi energy
is:

EF =

6.3

2
2me

3 2 (1036 )
1 m3

)2/3
3 105 eV = 0.3 MeV

Nucleus

Another typical example is that of the particles in a nucleus of an atom. The radius of the nucleus is roughly:
(
)
R = 1.25 1015 m A1/3
where A is the number of nucleons.
The number density of nucleons in a nucleus is therefore:

n=

A
4
3
3 R

1.2 1044 m3

Now since the Fermi energy only applies to fermions of the same type, one must divide this density in two. This is
because the presence of neutrons does not aect the Fermi energy of the protons in the nucleus, and vice versa.
So the Fermi energy of a nucleus is about:

2
EF =
2mp

3 2 (6 1043 )
1 m3

)2/3
3 107 eV = 30 MeV

The radius of the nucleus admits deviations around the value mentioned above, so a typical value for the Fermi energy
is usually given as 38 MeV.

See also
FermiDirac statistics: the distribution of electrons over stationary states for a non-interacting fermions at
non-zero temperature.

REFERENCES

References
[1] The use of the term Fermi energy as synonymous with Fermi level (a.k.a. electrochemical potential) is widespread in
semiconductor physics. For example: Electronics (fundamentals And Applications) by D. Chattopadhyay, Semiconductor
Physics and Applications by Balkanski and Wallis.
[2] Introduction to Quantum Statistical Thermodyamics (PDF). Utah State University Physics. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
[3] Ashcroft, Neil W.; Mermin, N. David (1976). Solid State Physics. Holt, Rinehart and Winston. ISBN 0-03-083993-9.
[4] Fermi level and Fermi function, from HyperPhysics

Kroemer, Herbert; Kittel, Charles (1980). Thermal Physics (2nd ed.). W. H. Freeman Company. ISBN
0-7167-1088-9.
Table of Fermi energies, velocities, and temperatures for various elements.

9
9.1

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