Gas permeability of thin polyimide foils prepared by in-situ polymerisation

The entrance windows to the gas detector chambers as well as to the target containers used in high-energy and high-intensity accelerators must be as thin as possible to minimise energy losses of the particles used in astrophysics and nuclear physics studies. Because of their good physical properties, polyimide foils are often considered as suitable material for such windows, but commercially available foils, having a thickness greater than 7–8 μm (>1 mg/cm2), would cause energy losses of particles significant for some nuclear reactions studied. Foils prepared by in-situ polymerisation can, however, be as thin as 0.07 μm (∼10 μg/cm2). The permeability of 4 μm foils produced by in-situ polymerisation has been measured at room temperature for He and Ar. For He measurements were performed in the pressure range of 4–70 mbar and for Ar in the range of 20–140 mbar and the permeability was found to be in good agreement with the values published for the thicker commercial foils.