Solid State Physics – Neil W. Ashcroft, N. David Mermin

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• Title: Solid State Physics
• Authors: Neil W. Ashcroft, N. David Mermin
• Pages: 848 pages
• Publisher: Brooks Cole; 1 edition (January 2, 1976)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0030839939
• ISBN-13: 978-0030839931

Review
“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. ”
“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.”

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