There is a need to develop high temperature electronic components that can withstand the harsh environment of geothermal well drilling. The development of state-of-the-art polymer/metal capacitors would introduce major improvements to high temperature scalable, on-the-spot, information systems associated with well drilling, data telemetry, and process control. This project will use high-rate vacuum based polymer/metal multilayer (PML) technology to fabricate solvent free, low cost, light weight, high temperature capacitors. Phase I will establish proof-of-concept for the manufacture of PML capacitors composed of thousands of high temperature polymer dielectric layers separated with self-healing metal electrodes. Polymer material screening will first be performed with single layer capacitors, and then candidate polymers will be used to produce multilayer capacitors with ratings of 25 – 100 VDC, 10-100 micro Farads, and 250-300° C.

Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: The PML capacitors should find uses in the high temperature capacitor and sensor market sectors, including deep geothermal wells, power electronic applications for aircraft, automotive, and specialty instrumentation.