Modification of Conductivity and of Mechanical Properties of Electroactive Polymer (EAP) Thin Films by Titanium Ion Implantation

We present a study of the influence on Young’s modulus, stress and electrical conductivity of poly-dimethylsiloxane membranes implanted with titanium ions at energies from 5 to 35 keV, with doses up to 8x10^16 ions/cm2. The motivation for this study was to find the optimum implantation conditions to create electrodes for microfabricated dielectric electroactive polymer actuators, which must combine low resistivity with low stiffness. Two implantation techniques are used, Filtered Cathodic Vacuum Arc (FCVA) and the more conventional Low Energy broad beam Implanter (LEI). Of the two, it is found that the FCVA implanter is much better suited to create compliant electrodes.