Analysis of mobile ionic impurities in polyvinylalcohol thin films by thermal discharge current and dielectric impedance spectroscopy

Polyvinylalcohol (PVA) is a water soluble polymer frequently applied in the field of organic electronics for insulating thin film layers. By-products of PVA synthesis are sodium acetate ions which contaminate the polymer material and can impinge on the electronic performance when applied as interlayer dielectrics in thin film transistors. Uncontrollable voltage instabilities and unwanted hysteresis effects are regularly reported with PVA devices. An understanding of these effects require knowledge about the electronic dynamics of the ionic impurities and their influence on the dielectric properties of PVA. Respective data, which are largely unknown, are being presented in this work. Experimental investigations were performed from room temperature to 125°C on drop-cast PVA films of three different quality grades. Data from thermal discharge current (TDC) measurements, polarization experiments, and dielectric impedance spectroscopy concurrently show evidence of mobile ionic carriers. Results from TDC measurements indicate the existence of an intrinsic, build-in electric field of pristine PVA films. The field is caused by asymmetric ionic double layer formation at the two different film-interfaces (substrate/PVA and PVA/air). The mobile ions cause strong electrode polarization effects which dominate dielectric impedance spectra. From a quantitative electrode polarization analysis of isothermal impedance spectra temperature dependent values for the concentration, the mobility and conductivity together with characteristic relaxation times of the mobile carriers are given. Also shown are temperature dependent results for the dc-permittivity and the electronic resistivity. The obtained results demonstrate the feasibility to partly remove contaminants from a PVA solution by dialysis cleaning. Such a cleaning procedure reduces the values of ion concentration, conductivity and relaxation frequency.