Nano-scale characterization of insulator-semicon contacts

A main challenge in the development of polymer-insulated HVDC power cables is to achieve a robust insulation. Under electrical and/or thermal stresses, a phenomenon that significantly reduces the cable reliability is space charge accumulation. Its depends on the electrode-insulation contact which refers to the transition of carbon-black filled host polymer (‘semicon’, SC) and unfilled polymer. The fundamental processes which govern the contact physics and their dependence on the microstructure properties of the polymer and the interface are still poorly understood. In this paper we present a methodology to probe SC-insulator contact properties on a nanometer scale and to investigate the impact of material processing.