Investigation of current‐voltage characteristics and current conduction mechanisms in composites of polyvinyl alcohol and bismuth oxide

Temperature dependent current‐voltage (I–V) measurements of Au/Polyvinyl Alcohol + Bi 2 O 3 /n‐Si structure were conducted between 100 and 350 K for investigating the temperature dependence of I–V characteristics and current conduction mechanisms in the structure. Series resistance of the structure is calculated using Ohm's law and Cheungs' method. Ideality factor ( n ) and zero‐bias barrier height ( Φ Bo ) were obtained considering thermionic emission theory. From 100 to 350 K, n changed from 32.1 to 3.54, and Φ Bo changed from 0.27 to 0.99 eV. Obtained temperature dependent values of n and Φ Bo suggested that thermionic emission is not the dominant current conduction mechanism. Therefore, Ln( I )–Ln( V ) curves of the studied structure were plotted for investigating current conduction mechanisms in the structure and current flow is explained considering space charge limited current. Moreover, density of interface states ( D it ) in the structure were calculated and its temperature dependence was investigated such that D it values are reduced to the order of ∼10 13 eV −1 cm −2 from ∼10 14 eV −1 cm −2 with increasing temperature. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 54:1811–1816, 2014. © 2013 Society of Plastics Engineers