Charge trapping characteristics of alumina based ceramics

The space charge dynamics is very important for electrical breakdown of alumina based ceramics. In this paper, the charge trapping/detrapping characteristics of alumina based ceramics were studied by means of isothermal surface potential decay (ISPD) method. For alumina and zirconia toughened alumina (ZTA) ceramic samples, the ISPD curves charged by corona discharge as well as microstructure characterization were carried out. For the first time, crossover phenomenon and hollow shaped potential profile were observed and reported in alumina based ceramics, indicating a surface potential decay process dominated by charge injection and volume conduction affected by the trap states in materials. In addition, the comparative trapping characteristics were evaluated based on a charge detrapping controlled decay model. The correlation between trap distribution and microstructure of alumina based ceramics was investigated. It was proposed that different charge trapping characteristics of alumina based ceramic samples was caused by varied shallow trap density of grain boundary.