Bias dependent conduction and relaxation mechanism study of Cu5FeS4 film and its significance in signal transport network

Abstract

Here we have reported the electric and dielectric properties of a Bornite (Cu5FeS4) film using non-destructive complex impedance spectroscopy (CIS) in the frequency range 40 Hz–20 MHz and bias voltage range 0–0.8 V. A typical hydrothermal reaction was carried out to obtain the Cu5FeS4 material. Thereafter, we fabricated the film of the synthesized material and analysed its various properties as a function of frequency and dc bias voltages. The CIS analysis at room temperature (303 K) for different forward dc bias voltages shows that the bulk resistance plays a predominant role in conduction mechanism. The complex impedance (Nyquist) plots are well modelled with grain and grain boundary resistance by introducing proper ac equivalent circuit. The impedance loss spectra showed that the relaxation peak shifts towards the higher frequency with increasing bias voltages, which implies the possibility of a charge hopping between the localized charge states. Furthermore, we find that dielectric constant ( $${\varepsilon ^\prime }$$ ), dielectric loss ( $${\varepsilon ^{\prime \prime }}$$ ), electrical modulus ( $${{\text{M}}^*}$$ ) and ac/dc conductivity of the Cu5FeS4 film are strongly frequency dependent. The values of $${\varepsilon ^\prime }$$ and $${\varepsilon ^{\prime \prime }}$$ decreases whereas ac conductivity increases with increasing frequency. High frequency and low frequency dielectric constant of the material are found to be 3.48 and in the order of 104 respectively. Electrical modulus study is introduced for better explanation of conductivity relaxation phenomenon. Finally, we investigated the variation of ac/dc conductivity with forward dc bias voltages. This confirmed the presence of a hopping mechanism for electrical transport in our system, which can be best explained on the basis of jump relaxation model. Overall, this extensive study based on complex impedance spectroscopy demonstrates the dielectric relaxation behaviour of Cu5FeS4 film and also shed light on hopping induced conduction mechanism.