Development of Thermally Stable and Photosensitive Polymers

Photosensitive polyimides (PSPIs) and photosensitive polybenzoxazoles (PSPBOs) have been used in the semiconductor industry as interlevel insulators, buffer coat materials, α-ray shielding layers, etc., because of their excellent thermal stabilities, good mechanical properties, and relatively low dielectric constants. These thermally stable and photosenstive polymers (TSPSPs) are also expected to improve their performance with the increased developments in the semiconductor industry. In this short review, we describe several TSPSPs that were recently developed by our groups. These TSPSPs have several advantages compared to conventional PSPIs and PSPBOs, such as a simple formulation of the resists, an environmentally-friendly fabrication and patterning process, high sensitivity, low-temperature cyclization, low dielectric constant, low CTE, etc.