Abstract
Metallized polyimide polymer films are of interest owing to their wide scope of applications including adaptive optical mirrors, solar dynamic power generation, radiation shielding, and thermal control coatings. Palladium-based polyimide films have proven to be unique in terms of thermal reduction, photochemistry and nanoparticulate distribution within the polymer matrix. When Pd polyamic acid is exposed to lamp radiation for 15 hours prior to curing, an additional nanoscale metallic interlayer is created within the surface-metallized polyimide matrix. This photo-process creates alternating nanoparticulate layers of palladium metal. Whilst previous efforts have produced metallic interlayer in 15 hours, we show that an excimer laser reduces this time to 4–8 minutes. Preliminary results using a femtosecond laser show that a metal interlayer can be formed with as little as 8 seconds of exposure time. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) are used to characterize the layers. In addition to Pd, surface metallization and interlayer formation using other metals is discussed.
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acknowledgments
We gratefully acknowledge Gilda Miner, Michael Johnson, Xiaodong Zhang, Sky Ferrara, Nate Leone, and Jibao He for technical assistance. Financial support from NASA and the H.N. Ramaswamy Family is also much appreciated.
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Faulkner, F., Koplitz, B. Using Lasers to Create Metal-Polyimide Films with Alternating Layers. MRS Online Proceedings Library 1718, 140–145 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1557/opl.2015.547
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/opl.2015.547