The electrical transport properties of zinc oxide varistors are correlated with the chemistry of their grain boundaries. An adsorbed layer of bismuth, about 5 Å thick, is necessary to create potential barriers at the grain boundaries. The height of these potential barriers depends sensitively on the excess amount of oxygen (∼1 monolayer) present at the interfaces between grains. This oxygen enrichment is influenced by thermal processing and by electrical degradation.
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Stucki et al. (1990) studied this question.
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