Mechanism of thin metal films destruction by electric explosion

The working section of metal film capacitors is made of two pieces of polymer films covered with directly metallized electrodes. In some applications, the current densities in electrodes can reach values leading to its degradation. Thereby, the destruction of nanoscale thickness Al and Zn films by high current densities was studied at atmospheric air conditions. The current density ~10
¹²
A/m
²
was found to be a threshold value leading to strata origin. This process was accompanied by propagating demetallized areas, called strata, forming across the applied electric field. Additionally, the surface flashover was shown to allow strata growth even when the sample divides into two parts as stratum reaches its edge. As a result, the current and voltage waveforms were obtained for both stages. Additionally, the breakdown channel dynamic resistances corresponding to surface flashover phase were calculated.