Physics of Solid-State Dielectrics: Superstrong Electric Fields

Abstract

Electric strengthening with decreasing dielectric thickness allows superstrong electric fields, whose strength exceeds the breakdown one for thick dielectrics, to be created in thin layers of solid-state dielectrics without an electric breakdown. Such fields are called superstrong. In thin dielectric layers of micron thickness, the processes can be investigated which cannot be observed in thicker layers due to the onset of the breakdown. In the present paper, the results of experimental investigations of processes and phenomena taking place in thin monocrystal layers of alkali-halide crystals (AHC) in superstrong electric fields are generalized. Among these processes and phenomena are: electric currents and luminescence (electroluminescence) of AHC layers, impact excitation and electronic ionization of luminescence centers and ions of the host crystal lattice, emission of electrons, accelerated in the layer by the electric field, in vacuum, formation of point and linear defects in AHC under the action of strong and superstrong electric fields, etc. All these phenomena form a new scientific direction – physics of solid-state dielectrics: superstrong electric fields. The results of investigations of superstrong electric fields allow new approaches to the understanding of mechanisms of dielectric breakdown to be realized.