Modification of Electronic Transport in Polymer and Carbon Films by High and Low Energy Ion Irradiation

We have explored the origin of the ion-induced conductivity in polymer films and the distinction between low energy ion-implantation and high-energy ion irradiation. In experiments involving irradiation of polymer and carbon films with ions of energy from 200 keV to 25 MeV we have established that with both low and high energy ions the polymers undergo carbonization. However, the saturation resistivity obtained with low energy implantation is four to six orders of magnitude larger than those obtained by high energy ion irradiation. In experiments on irradiation of carbon films low energy ions caused a two orders of magnitude increase in the resistivity while high energy ion caused a two orders of magnitude decrease. This implies that the structure of the carbonized polymer is different for the low and the high energy ion irradiation. While in the former case there may be no crystalline order in the films; in the latter case, a microcrystalline graphitic structure is obtained (with four orders of magnitude larger conductivity than in the former case). The formation of graphitic crystalline order with increasing high energy ion dose was verified by electron energy loss spectroscopy. This is an interesting example of crystallization induced by electronic excitation alone with no macroscopic thermal effect.