LASER PROCESSING OF ELECTRICALLY CONDUCTING POLYMERS INTO PATTERNS

Lithographic patterns of electrically conducting polymers have been obtained in a variety of modes, either starting from films of intrinsically conducting polymers or from insulating precursor polymers or composites. Thin films of conducting polymers have been applied to appropriate substrates via spin-coating prior to their laser processing. These films have been shaped into three-dimensional patterns, either via direct ablation or according to a multiple-step process using a top coat of a conventional photoresist. Alternatively, originally insulating films of precursor polymers or composites have been converted into conducting patterns, either directly via laser irradiation, or indirectly using laser irradiation followed by a subsequent development step. For this purpose, initially obtained latent images in appropriate photosensitive precursor polymers or composites are converted into the desired conducting pattern using the vapor of a suitable monomer such as pyrrole, thiophene, or aniline derivatives as gaseous developers. Laser ablation of the materials may be combined with the laser-induced generation of electrical conductivity, a feature which provides for interesting possibilities of laser processing in a variety of different fields, including microelectronics, optoelectronics, micromechanics, etc.