In this article we report the preparation of new arylazophosphonate‐containing polymers, poly(arylazophosphonates), via polycondensation reactions of bifunctional hydroxy functionalized arylazophosphonate‐containing monomers with isocyanate or acid chloride comonomers. The polyurethanes and polyesters were characterized by common methods such as 1H, 13C, 31P NMR, FTIR, UV/visible spectroscopy, DSC, and GPC measurements. In addition, a number of polymer structuring experiments (macro and micro experiments) by means of laser ablation with a XeCl excimer laser were performed. In macro experiments, pulse number and fluence were investigated systematically and their influence on the ablation depth was discovered. In micro experiments, structures of high quality were obtained which possess clear contours without any debris on the polymer surface. Structures in the sub micron range were created by applying a phase mask. These high quality results indicate that the poly(arylazophosphonates) are well suited materials for laser ablation structuring with XeCl excimer lasers (e.g. for microstructuring or microlithography).
SEM image of sub micro structures of polymer APU 5 generated in experiments using a phase mask (line width: 0.3–0.5 μm, trench width: 0.3–0.5 μm, fluence: 3 J/cm2).
