Random free energy barrier hopping model for ac conduction in chalcogenide glasses

The random free energy barrier hopping model is proposed to explain the ac conductivity (σac) of chalcogenide glasses. The Coulomb correlation is consistently accounted for in the polarizability and defect distribution functions and the relaxation time is augmented to include the overlapping of hopping particle wave functions. It is observed that ac and dc conduction in chalcogenides are due to same mechanism and Meyer-Neldel (MN) rule is the consequence of temperature dependence of hopping barriers. The exponential parameter s is calculated and it is found that s is subjected to sample preparation and measurement conditions and its value can be less than or greater than one. The calculated results for a − Se, As2S3, As2Se3 and As2Te3 are found in close agreement with the experimental data. The bipolaron and single polaron hopping contributions dominates at lower and higher temperatures respectively and in addition to high energy optical phonons, low energy optical and high energy acoustic phonons also contribute to the hopping process. The variations of hopping distance with temperature is also studied. The estimated defect number density and static barrier heights are compared with other existing calculations.