Customer Reviews

Solid State Physics

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Whenever you think about learning Solid State Physics, or the first stage of Condensed Matter Physics for college level, the Ashcroft/Mermin book is always the first textbook that you should chose. It covers almost everything basic carefully.
But a couple of things make the evaluation lower.
First, and obviously, the book is too old. It was published 18 years ago and never got any new edition. During this long long long time, Solid State Physics has already changed much. Semiconductors are already the most important topics and the discoveries of high Tc Superconductivity and Quantum Hall Effect in low dimensional systems have already largely switched people's interest in physics of Solid to a regime stressed on interactions and disorders... Many books start trying to put these topics together, but nothing better than seeing a new version of Ashcroft/Mermin with the new topics well integrated in.
The other one is about the presentation of this book. I just taught the class of Solid State Physics last year for the first time, and it turns out the presentation of the book is not so friendly to everyone. The chaptors of Nearly free electrons and Tight Binding model of the Band Theory are made fairly long, while not constructed in the best way, resulting in the puzzle of many students. Of course, if you study carefully, you still can get the ideas, but a lot of time is wasted. Considering the importance of these chaptors, this really pulls back the evaluation of the book. My suggestion is, when you study Solid State Physics, have more books as your reference, don't stick only on A/M when you feel troubled, although the A/M is still the best one in general.
I really hope the new edition of this book comes out soon, but considering the age of the authors, it may never happen.

Ashcroft and Mermin is an "amplified" version of basic solid state book! Must have!

This book offers an excellent, step-by-step introduction to crucial concepts of solid-state physics. I think, the authors have nicely avoided "reasoning surprises" that usually bother novice readers. To read this book smoothly, certainly you need "Physics 101" background; but other than that, the book seems to be self-contained. But don't be surprised if the problems are quite challenging (some are tough)!

The development of solid-state physics is presented in a more historical fashion--in opposition to rigid, systematic, definitive, and (sometimes) boring way that is commonly adopted by many other solid-state books.

In my opinion (hopefully wrong), this book has some shortcomings:

(1) detailed technical aspects, e.g. in XRD--you must refer to other technical books if you want to delve into them.

(2) links to interesting, research-related topics in modern solid state physics.

(3) new editions since the first release (how come?? Solid state physics has grown rapidly!).

These are probably due to the the introductory nature of this book. But it is good if there is a future revision, with point (2) above added in it, at least in the form of problems.

The books, despite being older than me, is still THE text book in solid state (same way as Led Zep is king of classical rock). Comprehensive, NO look-up-in-the-text kind of problems and thorough. People always wonder why there is no second edition of this book, simply because there isn't a single book which can meet its high standard.

Apart from that, you need a good teacher to teach this book. I took course in advanced solid state and used the same book, didn't even had a feeling of k-space. But later was blessed to take the course again with Aschroft. Not only he is an excellent researcher, but extra-ordinary teacher. Rediscovering solid state again was fulfilling with one of the best teacher and one of the best book to follow.

The 20th century saw the birth of quantum mechanics, and its connection with physics, chemistry and engineering to form the discipline collectively known as solid state science. Dealing with the properties of solids at the atomic-scale, the advances in this field have made the entire Digital Age possible. As such, the literature, both educational and scientific, in this field has grown exponentially over the past 50 years. One of the best books in this field is Solid State Physics by Ashcroft and Mermin. This extremely thorough book covers the field from basic crystallography and bonding models up through magnetic, optical, and superconducting properties. The book includes lots of derivations, sample problems, and all the important equations. Also, the book covers both experimental techniques used in solid state science, and the growing field of computer simulations, especially those using density functional theory. All in all a great book to read for those working in or planning to work in this field.

The Ashcroft text is superior to other Solid State texts because of its readbility. It is not over-written like some texts, and its presentation of fundamentals is appropriate for a graduate course in solid state physics. It is not fair to under-rate the book simply because it is "old". Despite having several decades to write a better book, few authors have.

There are advanced chapters toward the end of the book that lay the foundations for superconductivity and vibrations in solids, among other things. Like most physics books, the direct application of the physics to real world tools is an afterthought, as it took me 5 years of experience to finally realize that Ashcroft's treatment of phonons in later chapters could be used to describe the piezoelectric efficiency of acoustic sensors. Perhaps this is because the book is dated, or perhaps it is because many physics texts fail to make the link between consumer technologies and fundamental breakthroughs in understanding, as if it is beneath the moral integrity of physics to worry about the engineering that follows. The work in superconductivity is advanced for a typical solid state course and might be better for a special topics series, as it was when I was a graduate student.

Ashcroft will serve as a good primer for most solid state topics, and it is well augmented with Kittel. A lesser book by Ibach and Luth, while it has just a few positive qualities, will fail a student unless they have Ashcroft on hand. Between Ashcroft and Kittel, a student would have a strong reference library.

As a side note, while it seems to be par for the course for most solid state texts, little is done to address the findamentals of crystalline structure that have led to the growth and evolution of the field of materials science. One of Ashcroft's introductory chapters summarizes a fundamental MSE text (such as Callister) very well by describing different crystalline structures and calculating packing fractions. However, it requires a leap of understanding to see that solid state physics is not just about semiconductors, but it is also about strength of materials and the fundamentals of transmission electron microscopy, among other things. Ashcroft is not to blame for this oversight - perhaps publishers would rather separate these topics for diversification and an overall increase in sales.

In short, if you are an instructor considering a text for you upcoming course, I strongly recommend Ashcroft. The physics hasn't changed since the book was introduced, though the applications have.

This used to be (maybe still is) *the* standard textbook for solid-state physics. You won't learn about solid-state electronics; for that go to Sze's books. On the other hand, for a solid overview of all of the physics you find in solid-state devices (plus explanation of many of the methods of characterization of materials), it is extremely good. The only reason I give it an 8 rather than a 10 is that it is a little out of date in respects to methods of characterization (which means the entire mess of STM/AFM/whatever is left out, for example.) Even so, it is *much* better than Kittel, which is the other standard book used.

Great Job in explaining this "hairy" matter. Reading the book as an theoretical Physisist there is some stuff missing when it gets to the theoretical aspects. And this is not what the authors intended. The book rather explains in "simple" words and formulas a deep physical understanding of all fields of solid state physics.

It has everything a good text book needs.

Great Job by the athors Fun to read.

Unfortunately this is the only solid fundamental Solid State physics book available. The problems at the ends of chapters have very little to do with the reading and there is no solution manual available. As a source for reading the book works very well, as concepts are explained throughly. However I do not recommend using this book as a source for homework since the problems are more concerned with mindless algebra rather than physical concepts. A lot of "make this expression look like this" type problems.

For undergrads or grads who are majoring in solid state physics, there are often two common choices of texts. This one and one of Kittel's books. There are differences. Ashcroft & Mermin tends to have better diagrams, of reciprocal space and Fermi levels, for example. And overall, the topics are discussed at a slightly more advanced level.

The biggest problem with Ashcroft and Mermin is that it surely is time for a new edition. Notably to include high temperature superconductors. Plus the quantum Hall effect. And maybe giant magnetoresistance. The latter is responsible for much of the advances in disk drive capacities in the 90s, for example.

Another problem is the sheer cost of this book. $155 list price?! Sounds like gouging.

This is still one of the best books on Solid-State Physics. Very well written, easy to follow and with a wide range of topics. I would suggest it to any student interested in learning the basics.