Investigation of non-first-order TSC peaks with non-constant recombination lifetime

Thermally stimulated current peaks corresponding to saturated (completely filled) and non-saturated (partially filled) non-first-order thermoluminescence with non-constant recombination lifetime are investigated. The variation of peak temperature and peak shape are studied as trap filling continues to increase until saturation. A set of expressions based on the shape of the peak has been derived, which in principle can be used to evaluate activation energy of such thermally stimulated current peaks. The coefficients involved in the expression are presented for certain kinetic orders, namely 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5. The validity of this peak shape method as well as the method of various heating rates have been checked by considering some numerically computed thermally stimulated current peaks.