Time, temperature and pressure dependence of circulating and emission currents in sandwich structures of Cu-SiO/GeO-Cu

Abstract

Abstract Thin-film sandwich structures of Cu-SiO/GeO-Cu, in which the dielectric film was prepared by a co-evaporation technique, have been examined. The circulating currents for a fixed bias voltage in the electroformed samples were studied for periods of up to two hours. The relaxation of the high-resistance memory state ( Vb= 50 V) was studied for different loading voltages and temperatures. The thermal-voltage memory effects were found to be independent of temperature in the range from room temperature up to approximately 100°C. Pressure-voltage memory effects were also observed. On increasing the ambient pressure to 760 torr, the electron emission ceased. The emission current stayed at an essentially constant value from — 95°C up to room temperature under a normal vacuum of the testing ambient atmosphere. The experimental results are compatible with a theory based on the development of conducting filaments during the forming process