Novel photobase generators mediated thiol-epoxy “click” reaction for self-healing, degradable and recyclable photoresist based on bio-vanillin and eugenol

Proton transfer polymerization through thiol-epoxy “click” reaction has played an important role in imprinting lithography process. In this work, phenol red can act as photosensitizer to promote the release of 1,5-diazabicyclo[5.4.0]undec-5-ene (DBU) from DBU-based photobase generator to trigger the “click” reaction while broadening the excitation wavelength of the reaction system from 254 nm to 365 nm. A 365 nm LED cured self-healing, degradable and recyclable environment-friendly photoresist is achieved based on biomass derived eugenol and vanillin. The adhesion strength of the bio-photoresist reaches 2.99 ± 0.04 MPa and the pattern accuracy at least is up to 3.87 μm, along with a low volume shrinkage rate of 0.51 % and excellent lithography performance. Therefore, this bio-photoresist is appealing to fine graphics process such as display panels, integrated circuits and semiconductor discrete devices.