https://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.V06589
Highest energy continuum of energy levels in a solid that is fully occupied by electrons at .
Notes:
- The valenceband is lower in energy than theconduction bandand is generally completely full in semiconductors. When heated, electrons from thevalenceband jump out of the band across the band gap and into theconduction band, making the material conductive. TheFermi levelseparates thevalenceband from theconduction band.
- In metals the valenceband is theconduction 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.