Electrical properties of plasma-treated FEP films

Ar plasma treatment effect on the electrical properties of tetrafluoroethylene and hexafluoropropylene copolymer (FEP) is examined at high temperatures. Conduction current in the treated FEP is much larger than that in the untreated FEP at high temperatures. We propose a model to explain the large conduction currents in the plasma treated FEP at high temperatures. In this model, charge carrier generation centers produced by the plasma treatment are thermally dissociated to positive mobile ions. These positive charges are responsible for the large conductivity in the plasma treated FEP at high temperatures. The activation energy for the dissociation is estimated to be 0.7 eV.