Estimation of density of charged defect states in some glasses of SeTeSnPb system using low-temperature d.c. conductivity measurements

Abstract

The charged defect states in chalcogenide glasses (ChGs) are responsible for the hopping conduction. The estimation of the density of defect states (i.e., DDS) is a crucial task when we choose a specific ChG as electronic material for its utilization in industry-level applications. ChGs are also famous as electronic materials since they possess exceptional electrical properties (e.g., thermally governed ac/dc conduction, resistive switching, dielectric dispersion). The present study reports the results of the low-temperature dc conductivity measurements in some multicomponent glasses of SeTeSnPb. For this, the dc conductivity has been measured in the low-temperature range. The detailed analysis of obtained data indicates that the dc conductivity obeys Mott’s T−1/4 law in this region. The DDS has been determined and its composition dependence is also discussed. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.