bandgap

plural bandgaps · alternative band gap

1. natural sciencesThe energy difference between two allowed ranges of electron energy in a solid; especially the difference between the energies of the valence band and the conduction band.

   1 more example

   The problem has been the lack of what is known as a bandgap. Semiconductors have bands of higher and lower energies and a point – the bandgap – at which excited electrons can hop from one to the other. This effectively allows switching on and off of the flow of current, so it is either conducting or not conducting, creating the binary system of zeroes and ones used in digital computers. […] Now, Walter de Heer at Georgia Tech in Atlanta and his colleagues have created graphene with a bandgap and even demonstrated a working transistor, an on/off switch that either prevents or allows current to flow through it.

   2024 January 4, Matthew Sparkes, “First working graphene semiconductor could lead to faster computers”, in New Scientist, retrieved 18 Jan 2024

2. natural sciencesA gap in a frequency range in which waves cannot propagate.

   The propagation of an acoustic wave inside a phononic crystal is forbidden in the bandgap frequency range due to Bragg scattering.