Conversion of precursor polymer into poly(p-phenylene vinylene) by XeCl excimer laser

A pulsed-laser beam was used to induce the conversion of a sulfonium precursor polymer into the light-emitting conjugated polymer, poly(p-phenylene vinylene) (PPV). The light-emitting PPV could be prepared by way of a conversion process using a XeCl excimer laser and simultaneously patterning a thin polymer line on a substrate. The main advantage of the method used in this study over the conventional method, thermal annealing, is the short tack time. It also has the possibility of easily patterning the conjugated polymer via a wet-processing route through the selective irradiation of a pulsed-laser beam for pixel formation. The surface morphology of the polymer film converted by laser annealing was superior to that of the film converted by thermal annealing.