Electron attachment induced ion transport — Part I: Conductivities and activation energies

Abstract The charge carrier transport in an ion conducting glass has been investigated by means of the charge attachment induced transport (CAIT) technique. For the first time we describe the direct measurement of the absolute bulk conductivity and the activation energy for ion hopping in a glass by attachment of low-energy electrons to the front side of this glass, which is in contact with a metal electrode at the backside. Both, the conductivity as well as the activation energy agree well with a cation attachment induced transport experiment establishing the universal character of the CAIT technique. The possibility that blocking electrodes and/or depletion zones evolving at the interface between the glass and the metal electrode interfere with the conductivity measurement is discussed but does not constitute a limitation under the conditions of the experiment.