Ultraviolet laser ablation and etching of polymethyl methacrylate sensitized with an organic dopant

Abstract

Although polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) is essentially transparent to light of 308 or 351 nm, it can be made sensitive to photoablation and etching by excimer laser pulses (20 ns half-width) of those wavelengths by the introduction of an organic dopant. The dopant (trade name=Tinuvin^*) is actually a quencher of the first electronic excited state of PMMA and is therefore used commercially to stabilize the polymer against photodegradation. Laser etching of Tinuvin-doped PMMA can be shown to be a photochemical process in which the Tinuvin decomposes by the absorption of two or more photons and causes the ablation of the surrounding polymer.^*[2-(2′-hydroxy-3′,5′-diisopentyl-phenyl) benzotriazole].