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A study on degradation of germanium coating on Kapton used for spacecraft sunshield application
Author(s) -
Esther A. Carmel Mary,
Dey Arjun,
Sridhara N.,
Yougandar B.,
Bera Parthasarathi,
Anandan Chinnasamy,
Rangappa Dinesh,
Sharma Anand Kumar
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
surface and interface analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.52
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1096-9918
pISSN - 0142-2421
DOI - 10.1002/sia.5867
Subject(s) - kapton , germanium , polyimide , x ray photoelectron spectroscopy , materials science , spacecraft , coating , degradation (telecommunications) , optoelectronics , spacecraft charging , fabrication , layer (electronics) , chemical engineering , composite material , electrical engineering , aerospace engineering , engineering , silicon , medicine , alternative medicine , pathology
Sunshield membranes made of germanium‐coated black polyimide (GBP) or Kapton are often used on the reflector/transmitter antenna of satellites for thermal control applications. However, the germanium top layer is prone to degrade during ground storage and implementation. Hence, vacuum/inert gas‐sealed packaging is required for storing the membranes, followed by a staggered fabrication schedule as the shelf‐life of the GBP is identified as only ~6 months. In the present study, microstructural, thermo‐optical, and electrical properties along with X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) studies for evaluating oxidation states of the as‐received and degraded GBP films have been investigated thoroughly. The radio frequency (RF) loss behavior of both the films has also been studied for S band (2.5–3.5 GHz), Ku band (10.5–14.5 GHz), and Ka band (30–35 GHz). Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.