Space-charge electrets

A literature review on space-charge electrets, covering the time period 1987 to 1996, is presented. The review starts out with a discussion of new inorganic and organic electret materials which also includes silicon based single and double layers. This is followed by a review of recent work on methods for measuring charge distributions. New results obtained with these methods on a number of differently charged materials are surveyed, together with data for charge transport and charge decay. Of particular significance is the superb charge storage capability of silicon dioxide/silicon nitride double layers which was discovered only very recently The review closes with a survey of new, or improved electret applications.