The improved photosensitivity of photosensitive polyimides containing o-nitrobenzyl ether groups induced by the addition of photoacid generator

In this article, photosensitive polyimides (PSPIs) with photosensitive groups, o-nitrobenzyl ether groups (Nb), were successfully synthesized based on 2,2′-dihydroxy benzophenone-3,3′,4,4′-tetracarboxylic dianhydride and on diamine containing ethylene glycol chains (ODA). Also, a series of polyimide (PI), ODA-1-PI, ODA-3-PI, and ODA-5-PI with a number of ethylene glycol chains of 1, 3, and 5 were prepared to investigate the relationship between structure and solubility. Interestingly, ODA-5-PI, which possesses a large number of ethylene glycols, exhibited the most excellent solubility. Therefore, due to the good solubility of ODA-5-PI in organic solvents and alkaline solutions, a PSPI, poly(1,4-phenyleneoxy-3,6,9,12,15-pentaoxaoctane-1,4-phenylene-2,2′-di[2-nitrobenzyloxy]benzophenone-3,3′,4,4′-tetracarboxdiimide), named ODA-5-PSPI, was synthesized by linking Nb, which is a photosensitive group. Aiming at producing positive tone patterns, the synthesized ODA-5-PSPI was exposed to UV irradiation and then to a post-exposure bake. Afterward, it was developed using a 2.38 wt% tetramethylammonium hydroxide solution. Furthermore, a photoacid generator (PAG) was additionally incorporated for a micropatterning process. Notably, in the presence of the PAG, the photocleavage of ODA-5-PSPI occurred not only by the intramolecular rearrangement of Nb but also by its hydrolysis reaction. As a result, due to the synergistic effect of photocleavage, the micropatterning of ODA-5-PSPI with PAG could be clearly obtained with less energy (2.0 J/cm²) compared with that without PAG (3.6 J/cm²). Therefore, through the addition of PAG, the photosensitivity was improved by 45%.