National Institute Of Materials Physics - Romania

PbS films were chemically deposited on poled and unpoled ferroelectric ceramic substrates and on glass. The sensitivity of the PbS thin films and the concentration of trapping centers inside these films depend on the nature of the substrate and, in the case of poled ferroelectric substrates, depend on the polarity of the ferroelectric polarization as well. A considerable enhancement of the photoconductive signal at liquid nitrogen temperature was found in the case of PbS films deposited on the positive face of a poled ferroelectric substrate. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science S.A.

The frequency characteristic of the transverse photoelectric signal of a three electroded PbS/ferroelectric heterostructure is analyzed in this paper. The ferroelectric material is a lead titanate-zirconate ceramic obtained by hot pressing. It was found that the frequency characteristic of this signal is similar to a high-pass filter and depends on the properties of the ferroelectric substrates on which the PbS film was deposited, An equivalent circuit was proposed comparing the studied heterostructure with a metal-oxide semiconductor (MOS) structure. The circuit elements were determined fitting the obtained formula for the output signal with the experimental data. Some of the circuit elements were determined experimentally using various measuring techniques. It was found that the experimentally determined values are close to the theoretically determined values. The studied heterostructure can be changed into a band-pass filter adding some external circuit elements such as resistors and capacitors.

Cadmium sulphide (CdS) thin films were deposited on glass substrates using the homogeneous precipitation technique and different cadmium salts. The structure of the films was analysed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Thermally stimulated current (TSC) measurements had revealed the existence of several trapping levels in as deposited and annealed films. The activation energy of these traps was determined from TSC measurements. The following values were found for CdS films deposited from cadmium acetate: E-1 = 0.3 eV; E-2 = 0.45 eV, E-3 = 0.51 eV. For CdS films deposited from cadmium chloride several trapping levels were found with the activation energies between 0.04 and 0.33 eV. A considerable enhancement of photoconduction after annealing in air was found. The experimental results were explained considering a sensitizing process due to the chemisorbtion of the oxygen. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science S.A.

Parallel and series pyroelectric bimorph structures, with 2-2 connectivity, are theoretically analysed to obtain the electric fields inside the two component phases. The proposed model takes into consideration the possibility of an electrical interaction between the two phases. It is demonstrated that the value of the internal electric field, due to the pyroelectric charge generated during heating of the bimorph structure, is considerably different than the case where each of the two phases is heated separately. It is shown that the value and the orientation of the electric fields inside the two phases of the bimorph depend on the value of the pyroelectric coefficients and dielectric constants of the two phases. The most interesting result is obtained in the case of the series bimorph, where the orientation of the electric field inside the phase with a lower pyroelectric coefficent is opposite to the orientation of spontaneous polarisation of this phase.

Using the Thermally Stimulated Current (TSC) method, the activation energy of trapping levels in sol-gel deposited lead titanate films was determined. Four levels were found in films annealed at 550 degrees C and 600 degrees C. Their activation energies are: E-1 = 0.23 eV, E-2 = 0.30 eV, E-3 = 0.34 eV and E-4 = 0.40 eV. For the films annealed at 650 degrees C only one level (E-2) was observed. It was found that the TSC magnitude decreases if the same sample is subjected to several cycles of cooling and heating between 100 K and 373 K in vacuum. This suggests a ''healing'' of the traps, probably due to the desorption of some gaseous species from the surface of the ferroelectric thin film.

Magnetic materials in the CuZnTi ferrite system with the chemical composition Cu1-xZnxTiyFe2-yO4, with 0.5 less than or equal to x less than or equal to 0.62 and 0 less than or equal to y less than or equal to 0.05 were investigated as a function of sintering temperature and time and cooling speed in order to see the influence of these factors upon the Curie temperature and the permeability behaviour around the Curie point. The quality of the magnetic temperature transducers made from such materials is directly connected with the value of the slope of the mu(T) curve. The higher the slope the more sensitive will be the transducer. Slopes as high as 50%degrees C-1 were obtained by a proper cooling of the samples. this value bring the highest reported so far for such materials. The results are discussed in terms of the ionic distribution of the Cu, Zn and Ti ions over the tetrahedral and octahedral sites of the spinel lattice. The materials proved to be stable in time if the temperature does not exceed 200 degrees C, but higher temperatures may induce irreversible change in the material structure due to cation migration and electron transfer from copper ions to iron ions.

An anomalous high signal was observed across lead sulphide-ferroelectric ceramic heterostructures illuminated at room temperature with light having wavelengths between 0.8 and 3.1 mu m. The frequency characteristic of this signal is similar to a high-pass filter and depends on the value of the load resistance in series with the lead sulphide thin film, This signal is only two to three times smaller than the usual photoconductive signal generated by the lead sulphide thin film. Its nature is not pyroelectric because of its frequency dependence. The interface charge released from the PbS-ferroelectric interface during polarization reversal was integrated and a hysteresis loop was obtained. Electrons and hole concentrations were evaluated from this curve. The values obtained are: 4.4 x 10(16) cm(-3) for holes and 3.4 x 10(16) cm(-3) for electrons.

PbS/PbTiO3/Si heterostructures were prepared by successive depositions of a PbTiO3 thin film using the sol-gel method and of a PbS thin film using the coprecipitation method on a bulk silicon wafer. The current-voltage characteristic of the heterostructure is of a diode type. The heterostructure is sensitive over a broad range of wavelengths, from 0.35 to 3 mu m, when illuminated with continuous light or with modulated Light. Three sensitivity peaks are observed, at 2.7, 0.95, and 0.38 mu m. The measured signals are attributed to a photovoltaic effect which appears in the studied heterostructure.

Photoelectric properties of PbTiO3/Si heterostructures were investigated over a broad range of wavelengths. The spectral distribution of the a.c. open-circuit voltage was measured for wavelengths ranging from 0.35 mu m to 4 mu m. Two local peaks are observed at 0.38 mu m and 0.9 mu m which can be attributed to band-to-band excitations in PbTiO3 and Si respectively. The shape of the a.c. signal depends both on the light intensity and on the wavelength. When the heterojunction is reverse-biased, a d.c. photocurrent was observed which has a similar spectral distribution as the a.c. open-circuit voltage.

Thermal analysis of a pyroelectric bimorph structure, performed for a sinusoidally modulate heat flow, reveals the possibility to obtain a larger signal than in the case of a homogenous pyroelectric structure. The ratio between the signal generated from a bimorph structure and the signal generated from a homogenous structure, in the same conditions, depends on the material properties and on the modulation frequency. This ratio, computed for a particular bimorph, is up to four at 1000 Hz.