Patterning functional materials is a central challenge across many fields of science. Despite the fact that there are hundreds of commercially available photoresists, the functional diversity amongst these materials is severely limited. In most applications, the photoresist serves the sole purpose of a sacrificial mask or mold; very rarely is the resist material incorporated as a structural element or chemically functional interface. The ability to generate new kinds of chemically functional materials directly via photolithography would enable a host of new applications, for example in microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), microfluidics, patterned biomaterials and artificial optical materials. We recently reported a negative tone photoresist using a photoactivated olefin metathesis catalyst, which can be quickly prepared in a one-pot synthesis from commercially available starting materials. Olefin metathesis is a robust synthetic methodology that has led to new polymeric materials with many applications, such as drug delivery, organic electronics, and photonic crystals. We recently developed a method of patterning using a ruthenium photocatalyst, PhotoLithographic Olefin Metathesis Polymerization (PLOMP). In this procedure, a latent metathesis catalyst is activated by light to react with the olefins in the surrounding environment. We demonstrate a negative tone resist by using the photocatalyst to crosslink a difunctional ROMP monomer within a matrix of linear polymer. The versatility of ruthenium-mediated olefin metathesis can now be utilized to photopattern a variety of functional materials via PLOMP, advancing the field of photoinitiated olefin metathesis from a curiosity to materials science applicable to mass microfabrication. We anticipate that PLOMP will enable the development of directly patterned micro- and nanostructures with chemical, mechanical and optical functionality not currently available with existing fabrication techniques.

Photolithographic olefin metathesis polymerization

248th National Meeting (2014)

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