Determining the energy distribution of traps in insulating thin films using the thermally stimulated current technique

We have developed a simple method to analyze and predict the thermally stimulated current (TSC) of charged insulating thin films experiencing arbitrary time-dependent thermal environments and high electric fields. The method allows greater flexibility in experimental conditions than previous work, and includes the effect of field-induced barrier lowering on the trap energy scale. Trap distributions for irradiated metal-SiO_2-Si capacitors were accurately determined from TSC measurements spanning a factor of 50 in heating rate, providing an improved estimate of trapped-hole energies in SiO₂ (peak {~}1.8 eV).