Photoemission study of direct photomicromachining in poly(vinylidene fluoride)

Direct pattern transfer onto poly(vinylidene fluoride) was achieved by using x-ray photons from a synchrotron radiation source. Quadrupole mass spectrometry and ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy, combined with ab initio molecular orbital calculations, were employed to investigate the mechanism of direct photomicromachining. The mass spectrometry identified H-2, F, and HF as the etched products, with no carbon containing species being detected. The changes in photoemission spectra due to photodegradation were analyzed by comparison with ab initio molecular orbital calculations. This analysis indicated that a high degree of conjugation is generated in the degraded polymer due to the loss of fluorine atoms. It is concluded that the mechanism of direct photomicromachining is ascribable to the shrinking of the irradiated polymer region due to defluorination and the generation of conjugation. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(00)03208-4].