High-field hole injection, conduction, and breakdown in polyethylene films fabricated by plasma polymerization

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Abstract
The current‐voltage (I‐V) characteristics of polyethylene films fabricated by plasma polymerization have been measured at very high electric fields using linear ramp voltages. Experimental results show that at average fields higher than 1 MV/cm, electric conduction is mainly due to the Fowler–Nordheim‐type tunneling injection of holes from the anode and the high hole mobility. There is no evidence of impact ionization at fields close to the breakdown strength. High‐field conduction is filamentary and governed by the trapped hole space charge. Internal discharges such as electrical treeing and breakdown are initiated by thermal instability within high‐current density regions of main conduction filaments (or channels), and then followed by the creation of low‐density domains to provide large mean free paths for subsequent impact ionization which leads to an indefinite increase in carrier multiplication and final destruction of the material inside the filaments.

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