POLYSILOXANE FORMATION AT THE IRRADIATED SURFACE OF POLYMERS CONTAINING BOTH PHOTOACID GENERATING-UNITS AND EPOXY UNITS

Polymers bearing both epoxy units and photoacid generating units which can generate sulfonic acid upon irradiation with 254 nm light were pr epared and the effect of crosslinking of polymer films on the formatio n of polysiloxanes at the irradiated surface by the chemical vapor dep osition (CVD) method was investigated. When the surface of the irradia ted film was exposed to the vapor of alkoxysilanes, polysiloxanes were formed at the surface. The thickness of the surface layer composed of polysiloxanes and base polymer was largely reduced by the crosslinkin g of the film surface. The surface modified with polysiloxanes showed a good resistance to the etching using an oxygen plasma. (C) 1997 Else vier Science Ltd.