CHANGES OF CONDUCTIVITY AND ELECTROCHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF POLYPYRROLEBY ION-IMPLANTATION

The modification of properties of conducting polymers by ion bombardme nt offers interesting possibilities for their application in the micro electronics field. Therefore, samples of an intrinsically conducting p olymer (polypyrrole) were modified by ion implantation in the keV rang e. The modified foils having lower conductivity show different electro chemical features compared to the untreated polymers; the observed cur rent densities are smaller by two orders of magnitude depending on the ion dose. Using the multi-sweep mode the modified layer is removed st ep by step. The conductivity of the pristine foil is sufficient (sigma = 100 S/cm) for galvanic copper deposition. The modification induced by ion implantation causes an inhibition of electrochemical copper dep osition. By using masks lateral structures in the range below 20 mu m can be produced. The structural changes induced by ion implantation an d electrochemical treatment were investigated by X-ray photoelectron s pectroscopy.