Lifetime of electrons in metals at room temperature

Abstract A systematic trend of the electrical resistance at room temperature is studied for 26 metals and metallic compounds, having sufficient isotropy, by using experimentally known Fermi surfaces and effective bandmasses. From the study it follows that the electron lifetime is one universal constant ħ/kT for all metals and for all temperatures where the resistance is in the linear regime. The rule applies from Cu to doped semi-conductors, spanning a region of almost six decades in effective number carriers.