| AVS 59th Annual International Symposium and Exhibition | |
| Electronic Materials and Processing | Thursday Sessions |
| Session EM-ThP |
| Session: | Electronic Materials and Processing Poster Session |
| Presenter: | D. Pei, University of Wisconsin-Madison |
| Authors: | D. Pei, University of Wisconsin-Madison M.T. Nichols, University of Wisconsin-Madison Y. Shkel, Commet LLC Y. Nishi, Stanford University J.L. Shohet, University of Wisconsin-Madison |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Trapped volume charge inside dielectric films can lead to breakdown permanently damaging the dielectric film. Measurement of the spatial volume charge distribution is critical to estimate the electric field and the change in properties of dielectric films. A pulsed electro-acoustic (PEA)[1-2] method is applied to measure the volume charge distribution throughout the thickness of the thin film dielectric. In this method, a high voltage pulse signal (1 kV, 10 ns) or a sinusoidally varying high-voltage signal (4 kV, 5 kHz) is applied across a thin film of low-density polyethylene. An acoustic wave is generated by the volume charge inside the film and transmitted to each side of the film. A piezoelectric transducer on one side of the dielectric film is used as a sensor to detect and measure the arrival times of the acoustic waves in the case of pulsed excitation or the shift in phase of the detected signal in the case of sinusoidal excitation. This allows spatial resolution of both the location and magnitude of the charge distribution.
This work was supported by the Semiconductor Research Corporation under Contract No. 2008-KJ-1871 and by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. CBET-1066231.
[1] T. Maeno, T. Futami, H. Kushibe, T. Takada and C. M. Cooke “Measurement of Spatial Charge Distribution in Thick Dielectrics Using the Pulsed Electroacoustic Method” IEEE Transactions on Electrical Insulation Vol. 23 No. 3, June 1988
[2] M. Abou-Dakka, S.S. Bamji and A.T. Bulinski, “Space Charge Distribution in XLPE by TSM, Using the Inverse Matrix Technique”, IEEE Trans. Diel.And Electr. Insul., vol. 4, pp. 314-320, 199