Abstract
The transport mechanism of charge carriers in thermally stable polymer (polyimide) films, irradiated with a combination of Ar+ and Ga+ ions, has been investigated. Such irradiation increased the electrical conductivity of modified layers by more than seven orders of magnitude, so that it reached 103 S cm−1. It is concluded that the electron-ectron Coulomb interaction influences the low-temperature conductivity of ion-irradiated polyimide films near the metal-insulator transition, just as it does in the case of crystalline and amorphous semiconductors. Values of the localization radius, the permittivity and the density of the localized states are determined.