Electron-beam charging of plasma-coated spacecraft dielectrics

Author

Balmain, K.G. ; Wertheimer, M.R.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng., Toronto Univ., Ont., Canada

fYear

1991

fDate

25-27 Sep 1991

Firstpage

747

Lastpage

752

Abstract

Research results are described on the charge accumulation and arc discharging of coated dielectric sheets exposed to a 20-keV electron beam. The dielectric sheet substrates are Kapton and Mylar, and the coatings are plasma-deposited amorphous hydrogenated silicon (a-Si:H), silicon nitride (P-SiN), and silicon dioxide (P-SiO₂). Arc discharges are characterized by their current pulse shape and by their appearance as recorded using a CCD (charge coupled device) camera. Results indicate that P-SiO₂ and P-SiN coatings on Kapton prevent discharge occurrence. Other coating-substrate combinations do not prevent discharges but do modify them

Keywords

arcs (electric); dielectric properties of solids; dielectric thin films; electrets; electron beam effects; plasma deposited coatings; Kapton; Mylar; Si:H; SiN; SiO₂; amorphous semiconductors; arc discharging; charge accumulation; charge coupled device; coated dielectric sheets; electrets; electron-beam charging; plasma-coated spacecraft dielectrics; Amorphous materials; Arc discharges; Charge-coupled image sensors; Coatings; Dielectric substrates; Electron beams; Plasma devices; Pulse shaping methods; Silicon compounds; Space vehicles;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Electrets, 1991. (ISE 7) Proceedings., 7th International Symposium on (Cat. No.91CH3029-6)

Conference_Location

Berlin

Print_ISBN

0-7803-0112-9

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ISE.1991.167306

Filename

167306