Electronic traps in polymer insulators: I(V) characteristics

We present three methods to estimate current-voltage characteristics of insulators starting from a description of the electronic traps in the dielectric. The methods are: (1) analytic and numerical solutions of the Kubo equation, (2) computation of local electron mobilities from a multiple trapping electron transport code (TrAM, Transport in Amorphous Materials) which includes trap filling effects and macroscopic integration of the Poisson´s and current-field equations, using local electron mobility data from TrAM and (3) direct incorporation of the local field in TrAM removing the need for the assumption of space charge limited conduction. We compare our model results with experimental studies of the current-voltage curve of cross-linked polyethylene.