Piezoelectric contributions to the electrical behavior of ZnO varistors

Internal stresses exist in ZnO varistors as a result of both crystallographic anisotropy in thermal expansion of the constituents and thermal expansion mismatch between phases. Due to the piezoelectric nature of ZnO, these stresses induce a net electric dipole moment that modifies the grain boundary Schottky barriers and causes an alteration of the varistor current–voltage response in the nonlinear regime. We report Raman piezospectroscopic measurements of residual strains in polycrystalline ZnO and develop a stochastic model for the distribution of potential barrier heights based on the distribution of internal stresses. The model provides a physical basis for barrier height distributions used in electrical network simulations of varistor transport behavior.