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Electronic conduction and dielectric properties of thin insulating films

University of British Columbia

The work contained in this thesis is concerned mainly with conduction mechanisms and polarization processes in thin amorphous insulating films. A model has been proposed and its d.c. conduction characteristics computed. The numerical results show the possibility of obtaining either space charge, Schottky, or Poole-Frenkel characteristics depending on the model parameters. The transient electronic discharge current has been analysed and the results show that this electronic current is approximately independent of the preapplied voltage in contrast to the ionic discharge current which is linearly dependent on preapplied voltage. This result, together with the experimental results obtained on Ta/Ta₂O₅/Au diodes, suggests that the calculations of low frequency dielectric losses using step response measurements are complicated by space charge effects only when the preapplied field is relatively low (≤lMV/cm for Ta₂0₅ films). Ta/Ta₂O₅/Au diodes were prepared by solution anodization or plasma anodization. All prepared diodes exhibited a rectification behaviour. Over the frequency range 100 Hz -100 kHz capacitance and loss tangent were found to decrease slightly with increasing frequency while the equivalent series resistance was found to be approximately proportional to ω⁻¹‧º⁵. All prepared diodes, with gold counter electrodes less than 1000 Å thick, were found to withstand, under a slowly applied field, field strengths approaching the formation field value.

Text

2011-05-17

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/34624

Electrical and Computer Engineering

University of British Columbia

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