Advanced nanocomposite polymer films for bimorphic gas sensors

摘要

Thin films of aromatic polymers such as polyimide (PI) and polyethersulfone (PES) find an extensive use in aerospace and electronic applications, in particular, as sensitive to moisture and gas uptake layers for bimorphic sensors. In this work, a complex investigation of the film composition, microstructure and physical properties of ion beam modified polymer films was carried out to optimize the moisture uptake. To modify thin films of polyimide and polyethersulfone 50, 130 and 180 keV boron ions with irradiation doses between 10{sup}13 and 10{sup}16 B{sup}+/cm{sup}2 were implanted. It could be shown, that partly destruction of chemical bonding under ion bombardment leads to the Creation of new amorphous and graphite-like structures, which increase the modified surface film conductivity by several orders of magnitude and enhances the sensitivity of these nanocomposite films to moisture uptake.