Fully cured fluorinated polyimide (FPI) films with low dielectric constants (less than or equal to 3.0) have been found to be chemically altered when exposed to UV radiation during a process integration study. This chemical modification is manifested in the loss of film thickness after it is subjected to UV radiation followed by photoresist stripping. The UV-radiation-induced surface modifications of the FPI film have been characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The XPS data show the presence of C=O and COO- sites in the FPI molecule following UV exposure. Under prolonged UV exposure in a stepper, the FPI film acts as a positive working photoresist. However, a 2 k Angstrom plasma enhanced chemically vapor-deposited oxide mask and/or a typical 12 k Angstrom photoresist mask effectively shields the FPI from UV-radiation-induced degradation. The effects of FPI on UV radiation present during other normal wafer processing steps such as plasma deposition and reactive ion-etching were also studied and found to be negligible.