Valence band

In the simple semiconductor description, the highest occupied energy band of the unexcited crystal at zero temperature. A missing occupant is an electron hole.

Spin-orbit coupling separates the $j=1/2$ valence states from the upper $j=3/2$ manifold at the zone centre in common cubic semiconductors. If its maximum lies ${\Delta }_{\mathrm{so}}>0$ below the upper valence band edge, its thermal electron hole population is suppressed by $e^{-{\Delta }_{\mathrm{so}}/(k_{B}T)}$ apart from effective density of states factors. Neglect requires $k_{B}T\ll {\Delta }_{\mathrm{so}}$; it is not valid at every temperature or in every material.

Near the zone centre of many cubic semiconductors, the upper valence bands have different curvatures and hence different band effective masses. In the isotropic approximation, the $j=3/2$ states with angular-momentum projection magnitude $3/2$ along the propagation direction form the heavy-hole branch; projection magnitude $1/2$ gives the light-hole branch. A flatter downward electron dispersion corresponds to a larger positive electron hole effective mass. Crystal anisotropy, strain and confinement can mix these branches, so the labels do not imply direction-independent exact masses.