Method of forming a relief image comprising amphoteric compositions
AssigneeShipley Company, L.L.C.
InventorsRobert E. Hawkins, Daniel Y. Pai
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Abstract
The invention provides radiation sensitive compositions that comprise an amphoteric polymer, the polymer comprising at least two distinct carrier groups so that the polymer is positively polarized or negatively polarized upon treatment with an acid or base, respectively, enabling the compositions to be electrodeposited either anaphoretically or cataphoretically. Employing this amphoteric polymer in a radiation sensitive composition also allows the use of either an acid or base solution to image and remove the deposited composition irrespective of whether the composition was applied cataphoretically or anaphoretically. The compositions of the invention are also suitably formulated as liquid coating compositions or used to form dry film resists.
Claims30
A method for forming a relief image on a conductive surface of a substrate, comprising
- (a) electrophoretically applying a layer of a negative-acting photoresist composition on the conductive surface, the photoresist composition comprising a crosslinker, a radiation sensitive component that causes crosslinking of the crosslinker upon exposure to activating radiation, and a polymer comprising cataphoretic carrier groups and anaphoretic carrier groups in an amount sufficient to enable i) either anaphoretic or cataphoretic deposition of the photoresist composition, and (ii) development of the photoresist composition with either an alkaline agent or an acidic agent after imagewise exposure of the photoresist to activating radiation;
- (b) imagewise exposing the composition layer to activating radiation to form a crosslinked image in those areas of the composition layer exposed to activating radiation;
- and
- (c) developing the composition layer to remove those areas of the composition layer not exposed to activating radiation to thereby yield a relief image on the conductive surface.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.