Aging, annealing, and conduction studies on vacuum deposited NdF 3 thin films

The electrical conduction properties of thermally deposited neodymium fluoride thin films have been investigated. Al-NdF₃-Al film capacitors were prepared using a conventional vacuum coating unit on well-cleaned glass substrates. The capacitors attained stability in 45 days of aging or when subjected to three cycles of annealing treatment. The mechanism responsible for the AC conduction was found to be ionic hopping. The occurrence of saturation of conductance at higher frequencies is attributed to dipolar relaxation in the film structure. The DC conduction in these films was observed to be of Schottky type. The existence of exponential trap distribution was confirmed and the trap density was found to be 5.108×10³³ m^-3