Electrical strength of thin polyaniline films

The electrical strength of in-situ polymerized polyaniline films converted to non-conducting polyaniline base has been compared with the strength of solution-cast polystyrene and poly(methyl methacrylate) films of sub-micrometre thickness. The electrical lifetime of polyaniline film exponentially decreases with the growing electric-field strength. The electric-field strength at breakdown increases with increasing rate of electric field build-up. The breakdown areas in polyaniline films have been characterized by Raman spectroscopy. The possible physical mechanism of the breakdown in thin polymer films is discussed. The proposed concept is based on the steep increase of current density during the transition from the quadratic law at space-limited charge to the regime of complete saturation of traps. As a result, the Joule heat causes the degradation of polyaniline followed by the evaporation of chain fragments in the breakdown area.