Effect of thermal annealing on switching dynamics of fatigued bulk lead zirconate titanate

The effect of thermal annealing on switching kinetics of electrically fatigued bulk lead-zirconate-titanate ceramics is demonstrated. Fatigue induces stretched exponential switching behavior reaching time constants in the range of hours. In the final stages of fatigue, all switching is highly retarded. Thermal annealing does not yield recovery of the fast switching components. The slow components recover in different temperature intervals. The degree of randomness of the fatigued state does not change upon annealing, while the characteristic time constants re-decrease considerably. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.