A Simple Graphical Method for Evaluating the Polarization and Relaxation Times of Dipoles or Densities and Energy Levels of Traps in a Dielectric Film from Transient Discharge Current

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to propose a simple graphical method for determining the polarization and relaxation times of dipoles and for determining the densities and energy levels of traps in a dielectric film. Using the transient discharge current density J dis(t) which flows in a capacitor consisting of a dielectric film between two electrodes, a function S(t) is defined as S(t) ≡t ·J dis(t) exp (1). For dipoles with discrete relaxation times (τi) or for traps with discrete energy levels (ΔE t i) where the subscript i represents the i-th dipole or trap, S(t) has peaks corresponding to each τi or ΔE t i. Using each peak, therefore, one can easily determine the dipole polarization (P s i) and τi, or the trap density (N t i) and ΔE t i. By a simple curve-fitting procedure, moreover, one can easily evaluate the continuously distributed dipole polarization P s(τ) or energetically distributed trap density N t(ΔE t).