LOW-TEMPERATURE TIME AND ELECTRIC-FIELD DEPENDENCE OF THE DIELECTRIC-CONSTANT IN AMORPHOUS MATERIALS

We report new behavior of the dielectric properties of amorphous materials (SiO2, SiO(x) and polymers) with respect to applied AC and DC fields. As reported previously1, we have seen a discontinuous rise, followed by a logarithmic relaxation of the dielectric constant upon application of a DC bias. After allowing the capacitance to relax from several hours up to a full day, we can sweep through a dielectric ''spectrum'' by varying the DC bias. These sweeps clearly show hole formation located at the previously applied bias voltage. New measurements show that this relaxation can be influenced by small temperature oscillations which increase the relaxation rate.