Evolution de la caracteristique courant-tension des varistances a base d'oxyde de zinc avec la pression partielle d'oxygene de l'atmosphere de frittage

In order to decrease the resistivity of zinc oxide grains which is responsible for the intensity limitation observed at high current densities, the dependence of current-voltage characteristics of zinc oxide based varistors on oxygen partial pressure has been investigated. From these studies it appears that the conductivity increases with decreasing oxygen partial pressure, this phenomenon being more significant at low voltages than at higher ones. These results can be related to a slight increase of the donor density, while the superficial trap density decreases strongly, involving a collapse of the barrier height and of the non-linearity exponent.