Thermal patterning of amorphous fluoropolymer layers

We study thermal patterning of micro- and nanoscale thin films of low-surface energy amorphous fluoropolymers, which circumvents some of the limitations of conventional photolithography techniques. Controlled heating of a spin-coated Teflon AF® layer leads to reduction in the residual solvent concentration and the dissociation rate. When immersed in a suitable solvent, unheated areas form thick gel-like regions, which can be efficiently removed through mechanical agitation. The kinetics of the solvent evaporation and dissociation processes is studied. Micro-heaters are used as localized heat sources to demonstrate thermal patterning of microscale structures.