Photoconduction and polarization effects in a heat-treated Au/Pb2CrO5/SnO2 film device

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CrO₅/SnO₂ sandwich-structured film device (1.39 μm thick) was measured at room temperature as a function of frequency in the range 5 Hz-5 kHz, both in the dark and under illumination with visible light of different intensities. The Pb₂CrO₅ film was prepared at a substrate temperature of 200 °C and annealed at a temperature of 460 °C, and has been characterized to be polycrystalline-rich in sizable micro-grains. The experimental frequency-dependence of the total ac-impedance was found to be adequately described over the entire frequency range used by a proposed equivalent RC-circuit model that took into consideration the contributions of the bulk, grain-boundaries, and electrode–Pb₂CrO₅ interface to the device’s ac behavior. Bulk conduction within crystalline grains due to the semiconductivity of Pb₂CrO₅ and space-charge effects in the highly resistive grain-boundary regions have been found to dominate the device’s ac-behavior at frequencies higher than 100 Hz and were strongly dependent on light intensity. The light-intensity behavior of the circuit-parameters associated with grain-boundary effects can be understood by the use of grain-boundary trapping models. The effect of interfacial space-charge polarization in the region near the electrode–Pb₂CrO₅ junction has been noted to be most significant at the low-frequency side and was not highly affected by illumination of the device.