Chemical Factors That Influence the Production of Conductive and/or Reflective Silver-Doped Polyimide Films

Doping a poly(amide acid) resin with a silver containing additive (1,5-cyclooctadiene-hexafluoroacetylacetonato)-silver(I) [Ag(COD) (HFA)] resulted, after thermal cure, in either a highly reflective or highly eléctrically conductive polyimide film. The combination of monomers, which render films with low Tg (~210°C), and contained sulfur, produced films with surface resistance in the range 101–103 ohms. On the other hand, films with specular reflectivity (relative to a silver mirror) in the range of 65–48% were obtained using both high Tg polyimides and polyimides void of sulfur in the polyimide backbone with low Tg. Our understanding regarding the structure-property relationship on these polyimide films and also the characterization of the doped-films are discussed.