The Photopolymer Science and Technology Award No. 251100, the Outstanding Achievement Award 2025, has been presented to Dr. Jos Benschop (ASML) in recognition of his remarkable contributions to the field of photopolymer science and technology, particularly for "bringing EUV Lithography from the research phase to high-volume manufacturing.".

The Photopolymer Science and Technology Award No. 252100, the Best Paper Award 2024, was presented to Jordan Greenough, Nitinkumar S. Upadhyay, Shaheen Hasan, Munsaf Ali, Ricardo Burke, Greg Denbeaux and Robert L. Brainard (Department of Nanoscale Science and Engineering at the University at Albany for their outstanding contribution published in Journal of Photopolymer Science and Technology, 37, (2024) 273-278, entitled “Positive-Tone Organoantimony Resists”.

The Photopolymer Science and Technology Award No. 252200, the Best Paper Award 2024, was presented to Tomokazu Umeyama^a, Motohisa Kubota^b, Haoxuan Zhang^b, Rintaro Adachi^c, Akira Yamakata^c, Tomoyuki Koganezawa^d, and Hiroshi Imahori^b (^aUniversity of Hyogo, ^bKyoto University, ^cOkayama University, ^dJapan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute) for their outstanding contribution published in Journal of Photopolymer Science and Technology, 37, (2024) 197–204, entitled “Development of Non-Fullerene Acceptors with π-Extended Central Unit for Organic Photovoltaic Devices”.

The development of high-performance UV-LED excited photoinitiators (PIs) is one of the current research hot spots in the field of photopolymerization. Thioxanthone (TX) derivatives have good UV-visible absorption ability under UV excitation. In this article, four novel thioxanthone derivatives were designed and synthesized as one-component polymerizable photoinitiators, and their structures were confirmed by FT-IR and ¹H NMR. Their photophysical/photochemical, kinetic and migration stability were investigated experimentally by UV-vis spectrophotometer and Fourier transform infrared spectrometer. The photolysis and photoinitiation mechanisms of four initiators were elucidated. Comparison of the results for the TX system showed that these TX derivatives are highly efficient one-component polymerizable PIs with high migration stability, which has the potential to be used in UV curing systems, especially for food packaging and biomedical applications.

High-conductive ultra-thin metallic wires, as basic structures in electronic devices, are highly demanded but challenging to improve the integration level and miniaturization of the devices. In this study, an efficient laser direct writing approach was proposed and aimed at preparing Ag wires with widths as narrow as 2 μm by irradiating the AgNO₃-polymer film with a compact blue-violet laser. A comprehensive exploration of various parameters was conducted, leading to the optimization of Ag wires exhibiting an impressively low resistivity of 2.35×10^-7Ω·m. In addition, an Ag wire prepared by laser direct writing on the flexible PEN substrate shows high tolerance to the inward and outward bending, demonstrating excellent flexibility and mechanical stability. On this basis, a UV-light detector based on the laser-irradiated interdigitated Ag patterns and sensitive CdS nanorods was demonstrated with high sensitivity and fast response.

A novel amorphous molecular fluorophore with three cyanostilbene moieties (TCSA) has been designed and synthesized.  It was found that TCSA readily form amorphous glass with a glass transition temperature of 97 °C.  Both crystalline sample and spin-coated amorphous film of TCSA exhibited fluorescence as well as in solution.  In addition, TCSA exhibited mechanochromic emission.  Although the emission color change is not so much clear for naked eye, the emission spectra of the crystal was changed by grinding due to amorphization.  It was also found that photochemical [2+2] cycloaddition through cyanostilbene moieties took place in the amorphous film upon irradiation with intense UV light.  The reaction resulted in quenching the fluorescence emission and therefore emission pattern could be fabricated on the amorphous film by UV irradiation through an appropriate mask.

We developed photocured films from a blend of TiO₂ and dinaphthylfluorene derivatives having acryl and naphthalene groups and photoinitiators with high refractive indices.  The curing properties of the blends were strongly affected by the irradiation conditions.  We successfully fabricated films with high refractive indices (1.767 at 589 nm) and a high thermal stability (5% weight loss temperature: 265 ^oC).

Leveraging the photochemical properties of polysilanes, we developed a novel approach for grafting glycidyl methacrylate onto polysilane backbones. This strategy, which exploits polysilanes as intrinsic photoinitiators, enables the facile introduction of epoxy groups. Subsequent reaction with amines affords polysilane-organic hybrids with tailored properties. The retention of polysilane segments in these hybrids provides opportunities for the development of new materials with combined electronic and mechanical properties.

Sulfur-containing polymers are widely used in the AR/VR industry due to their high refractive index. In this study, we synthesized sulfur-containing polymethacrylates at room temperature by using sulfur with the methacrylate monomer. The resulting polymer was used as a photoresist, incorporating 6% weight of a photoacid generator. The exposure process was carried out under a 254 nm UV lamp, demonstrating good lithographic properties.

Residual stress generated during the photopolymerization process remains a significant challenge due to its complex origins. Excessive stress accumulation can compromise material performance. In this study, a coupled photopolymerization kinetics and shrinkage stress model was developed to predict stress evolution during UV curing. The kinetic parameters were optimized using a genetic algorithm (GA) based on experimental data and validated through real-time FT-IR and photo rheometer. The simulation results showed good agreement with experimental measurements and successfully captured the effects of monomer conversion and crosslink density on shrinkage stress. This model offers a reliable predictive tool for shrinkage stress in UV-curable systems and provides valuable reference for future material design and process optimization.

Herein, spectral data–driven approaches were applied to analyze the carbon structure of diamond-like carbon (DLC) films deposited by the radio-frequency plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition and predict their properties. The correlation between the carbon structure and the film properties was further elucidated by combining an automated five-peak Raman deconvolution with heatmap visualization. Furthermore, the accuracy of film density predictions using partial least squares regression was profoundly improved through a variable selection method based on five-peak deconvolution analysis. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of this spectral data–driven approach in the research and development of DLC films, paving the way for their further improvements and broad applications

In this paper, we investigate different ways to increase the reactivity of Type I or Type II photoinitiators by introducing new latent reactive additives leading to additional initiating radicals, promoting singlet-singlet resonance energy transfer of Type I photoinitiators, overcoming diffusional limit in Type II photoinitiating system by pre-associating ion-pairs, or leading to additional initiating radicals and concomitant dye regeneration. The principles underlying these methods are exposed, and an example system is presented for each of these concepts. It is shown that high photopolymerization rates can be achieved even at very low light irradiances.