Photoablation of plasma polymerized polyacetylene films

Abstract

Polyacetylenes are the simplest organic polymers which readily undergo photoablation. We describe and justify the use of a less well-known technique for synthesizing polyacetylenes and characterize the films so formed. This is of interest because polyacetylenes are organic semiconductors. Glow discharge polymerization yields layers around 1 μm thick. Efficient ablative decomposition of polyacetylene films requires multishot exposures. The role of conjugation in the chains and efficiency of the process as opposed to thermal decomposition is discussed. Because the polymer contains only carbon and hydrogen, ablation in vacuum yields readily identifiable products.