Electrical properties of polymer films prepared from mixture of tetramethylsilane and oxygen by glow discharge polymerization

Summary The electrical properties of polymer films prepared from tetramethylsilane (TMS) and the mixture of TMS and oxygen by glow discharge polymerization were investigated in connection with the chemical structure of the polymers. The polymer films showed two different electrical properties which depended on the strength of electrical field. Under the electrical field of less than 10⁴ V/cm, the polymers showed ohmic behaviour, and their resistivity was approximately 10¹⁴ · cm being independent of the chemical structure of the polymers. Under the electrical field of above 10⁴ V/cm, non-ohmic behaviour was observed, and the current increased exponentially with increasing of the applied field. To explain this enhanced current the contribution of the Poole-Frenkel emission was assumed. The dielectric breakdown of the polymer films (1000–5000 angstroms) occured at the electrical field as high as 3 MV/cm. This indicates that these thin films may be deposited on substrates without pinhole.