Forming patterns using thiosulfate polymer compositions

摘要

A thiosulfate polymer composition includes an electron-accepting photosensitizer component, either as a separate compound or as an attachment to the thiosulfate polymer. The thiosulfate polymer composition can be applied to various articles and used to form a predetermined polymeric pattern after photothermal reaction to form crosslinked disulfide bonds, removing non-crosslinked polymer, and reaction with a disulfide-reactive material.

主权项

1. A method of forming a pattern in a polymeric composition, the method comprising:
providing a polymeric layer comprising a non-crosslinked thiosulfate polymer and an electron-accepting photosensitizer component (PS), photochemically reacting the non-crosslinked thiosulfate polymer to provide a crosslinked polymer having disulfide groups in a predetermined pattern in the polymeric layer, leaving non-crosslinked thiosulfate polymer in area(s) of the polymeric layer outside of the predetermined pattern, optionally washing the polymeric layer to remove the non-crosslinked thiosulfate polymer while leaving the crosslinked polymer in the predetermined pattern, and either: (i) treating the crosslinked polymer with a disulfide-reactive material, or (ii) when the polymeric layer further comprises a redox active metal ion, treating the predetermined pattern with a metal ion that is capable of reacting with the redox active metal ion, wherein the excitation energy, EPS*, of the electron-accepting photosensitizer component (PS) satisfies the following Equation 2:
EPS*≧ERox−EPSred  Equation 2in which ERox represents the oxidation potential of reactant thiosulfate moiety (R) in the non-crosslinked thiosulfate polymer and EPSred represents the reduction potential of the electron-accepting photosensitizer component (PS).