A question about the parameters(rho_e) in the ttm command

rho_e=electronic density (electrons/volume units)

My understanding of the density of the number of free electrons, the number of free electrons per unit volume, is related to the number of electrons in the outermost shell, and I don’t know if I’m getting it right, if you think I’m getting it right. So if it’s a compound, like SiC, what is its number of free electrons? Eight times the number of atoms they have, or something, please tell me,thank you.