Modelling electroluminescence in insulating polymers under ac stress : effect of voltage offset and pre-stressing

Abstract

Ac electroluminescence (EL) in polyethylene films is well documented on experimental grounds but a detailed model encompassing injection and transport is still to be strengthened. In particular, different papers report that the EL under ac sinusoidal voltage for both divergent and uniform field configurations is independent of a superimposed dc voltage offset, which is confirmed by our own measurements. Based on modelling, we show that the dc offset voltage induces a transient behaviour of the ac EL; where the symmetry between the EL peaks occurring during each half cycle of the ac voltage is broken but the same steady state is reached for any value of dc offset. The transient duration is short relative to the timescale of a typical EL measurement explaining why it has not been reported experimentally. It depends on the injection level, charge mobility and recombination efficiency. The model also explains the dependence of ac EL on the presence of homo-space charge near the electrodes.