Grainboundary electronic structure of ZnO-Bi2O3 based varistor ceramics

Dielectric frequency spectra of ZnO-Bi-2 O-3 based varistor ceramics were measured in the frequency range of 10(-2) Hz-10(6) Hz from - 100 degrees C to 20 degrees C by Novocontrol broadband dielectric spectrometer. The intrinsic defect structure of ZnO was calculated according to the theory which assumes that characteristics dielectric loss peaks of ZnO varistor ceramics origin from electronic relaxation process of intrinsic defects in depletion layer. At the same time the micro-electric parameters of grainboundary and the single grainboundary breakdown voltage V-b were obtained. The accordance of theory with experiment in Vb value indicates that the method to calculate grainboundary electronic structure by dielectric spectroscopy proposed in this paper is resonable.