Electrical properties of polyethylene modified by multistage ion implantation

The radiation defect formation accompanied with the paramagnetic centre cre ation by multistage boron ion implantation into the polyamide-6 films was s tudied using the ESR technique and electrical methods. It was found that th e multistage implantation with the energy increasing from step to step resu lts in the rearrangement of the polymer layer being accompanied with the co mpensation of the terminated carbon bonds and strong exchange interaction b etween pi -electrons. By contrast, a decrease of ion energy from one implan tation step to another one leads to the progressive accumulation of the par amagnetic centres in the implanted layers that permits highly conductive ch annels to be formed from the surface to the buried conducting carbonaceous layer produced in the polymer film via ion bombardment. This effect allows the fabrication of planar field-effect electronic devices based on ion-impl anted polymers. The spatial characteristics of this structure allows contro l of the conductance of the concealed carbonaceous layer by applying an ext ernal electric field that opens the way for fabrication of a transistor-lik e electronic switch. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.