<title>Pulsed electrothermal technique for the characterization of dielectric films</title>

Abstract

Several adaptations of the well known thermal-pulse technique for the determination ofthe spatial distribution of polarization across the film thickness will be discussed (julsed electrothermal techniques), which enable the in-situ investigation of piezo-, pyroelectric, elastic and thermal material properties during i.e. thermal cycles and chemical reactions within one easy-to-use experimental setup. Illustrations of the techniques are given by employing ferroelectric polymers (measurement of the thickness of depolarized layers near the electrodes and of the sound velocity), as well as amorphous, photonics polymers, (measurement of the thermal diffusivity and of the polarization distributions in a bimorph during thermally stimulated depolarization). Pulsed electrothermal techniques are easy-to-use, fast, highly sensitive and reliable, and therefore suitable for opening broad new fields ofresearch in thin film materials characterization.

Modeling of optical waveguide poling and thermally stimulated discharge (TSD) charge and current densities for guest/host electro-optic polymers

“…[5,6] Studies based on dielectric constant measurements have also been conducted. [7] These polymer films have been studied by a variety of methods including Thermally Stimulated Discharge (TSD) [4], Second Harmonic Generation (SHG), pyroelectric currents, [8] and thermal and acoustic waves. [9,10] Work has been reported on single layer guesthost systems [ 1 11 and for single layer polyamide film irradiation influence studies [ 121 using TSD for experimental analysis.…”