Electrical Properties of Annealed and Coated Boron Nitride Under Electron Beam Irradiation

Authors

Kevin Guerch, The French Aerospace Lab, Utah State University, & Université Paul Sabatier
Theirry Paulmier, ONERA, The French Aerospace Lab
JR Dennison, Utah State UnivesityFollow
Justin Dekany, Utah State UniversityFollow
Pascal Lenormand, Université Paul Sabatier
Sophie Guillemet-Fritsch, Université Paul Sabatier

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets

Publication Date

2015

Abstract

The charging and relaxation kinetics of pyrolytic boron nitride (BN) substrates, BN with an aluminium oxide (BN/Al₂O₃) coating, and thermally-annealed alumina-coated boron nitride (an-BN/Al₂O₃) were investigated under low power electron irradiation (5 < E₀ < 20 keV, J_i = 10 nA.cm^-2 at room temperature) in the CEDRE facility at ONERA (Toulouse, France). Surface potentials of each ceramics configuration were measured over time using the Kelvin probe method. The influence of coating and annealing treatments to limit charging is discussed in this paper. A thorough study of a an–BN/Al₂O₃ sample was carried out under a critical electron flux (E₀ = 20 keV, J_i = 750 nA.cm^-2) in order to assess the degradation kinetics of the material’s electrical properties. The characterisations of an–BN/Al₂O₃ samples were performed before and after electrical aging at CIRIMAT (Toulouse, France) to identify the structural and chemical evolution which would explain this degradation. A chemical deterioration of coating and some contaminants were evidenced after the critical irradiation.

Recommended Citation

Guerch, Kevin; Paulmier, Theirry; Dennison, JR; Dekany, Justin; Lenormand, Pascal; and Guillemet-Fritsch, Sophie, "Electrical Properties of Annealed and Coated Boron Nitride Under Electron Beam Irradiation" (2015). Journal Articles. Paper 37.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/mp_facpub/37