Indications of Temperature-Induced Structural Phase Transitions in Electron Transport Experiments

Orem, UT

The macroscopic behavior of a material is determined largely by its atomic level structure. Changes in this structure are well known to result in changes in behavior. A review of experiments investigating electron transport in polymers done by the Mate-rials Physics Group is presented in which possible indications of changes in electron transport behavior due to temperature-induced structural transitions are discussed. Such indications have been observed in constant voltage conductivity, radiation-induced conductivity, and electrostatic breakdown experiments. Details are presented about instrumentation (the RIC chamber) developed by the Materials Physics Group. Current experiments and anticipated future work that seeks to answer the questions raised by the reviewed experiments is discussed.