High Performance, Compact Capacitors for Pulse Forming Networks

We propose to develop high-performance, state-of-the-art polymer dielectrics by combining the high energy density (>25 J/cc) of PVDF¨Cbased copolymers and terpolymers and the low dielectric loss, high-temperature poly(2,6-dimethyl-1,4-phenylene oxide), polyimides, poly(phenylene sulfide), and/or polysulfones (0.05%~0.2%). We emphasize that the thermodynamic miscibility of these polymer blends is critical to the performance of large area thin-film capacitors since immiscible polymer blends have phase separation in micrometer scale. Miscible polymer blends will be identified by theoretical estimation following the Flory-Huggins model and systematic screening of commercially available low-loss polymers. In addition, multilayer structure with each layer thickness down to 10-100 nm will be fabricated using plasma-assisted chemical vapor deposition process. With the miscible polymer blends and/or multilayer structure, high-performance compact capacitors will be fabricated with energy density higher than 5 J/cc, dielectric loss less than 1%, delivery rates less than microseconds, improved thermal performance, and graceful failure feature.