Surface-Charge Decay in Insulators with Nonconstant Mobility and with Deep Trapping

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Abstract
The motion of space charge initially located at the free surface of an insulator is studied as a function of time. Analytic results are given for the following cases: (a) mobility proportional to a power of the field; (b) mobility proportional to a power of the free‐carrier concentration; and (c) fast deep trapping which goes to completion. After one transit time, the surface voltage becomes a unique function of time, independent of its initial value. The available experimental data for polyethylene do not fit these simple models, and the discrepancies are discussed. It is also shown that the observation of thermally stimulated currents in thin‐film electrets implies that they are electrically inhomogeneous.