Significant enhancement in dielectric constant of polyimide thin films by doping zirconia nanocrystals

• Oleic acid-capped ZrO2 nanocrystals were synthesized by a two phase approach.
• The carbon–carbon double bond of oleic acid on the nanocrystal surface was modified by epoxidation reaction.
• Fabricated polyimide/ZrO2 nanocrystal hybrid thin film with a high dielectric constant of 6.1.

Polyimide thin film has a low dielectric constant of 3.2. In this paper, we fabricated polyimide/ZrO2-nanocrystals hybrid thin films with a high dielectric constant of 6.1. The polyimide/ZrO2-nanocrystals hybrid thin films were formed by a spin-coating and a sintering process. The organic/inorganic hybrid thin films were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and LCR meter. Our experimental results confirmed that ZrO2 nanocrystals were well dispersed and embedded in the hybrid thin films. Compared with pristine polyimide thin film, the dielectric constant of polyimide/ZrO2-nanocrystal hybrid thin film significantly increased due to the incorporation of inorganic component.

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