Influence of UV light illumination on latent track structure in PET

Xe-ion irradiated PET films were chemically etched and the pore growth process was monitored by the conductometric method. By assuming that the break-through probability of pores is a single Gaussian function of etching time and the conductivity of the etchant inside pores is an exponential function of etching time after pore opening, the experimental measurements were numerically analyzed and information related to track structure and its variation with UV-light illumination were acquired. It is found that with increase of UV-light illumination time, in addition to an increasing in track etching rate, distribution of track break-through time narrows significantly which indicates a great improvement in etched-through pore size distribution. The conductivity of etchant inside pores is found to be about half that of the bulk etchant just after pore opening. After etching proceeding in the track halo range, the reduced etching products inside pores enables an increase in conductivity with increase of pore size.