Cyclotene 3022, a low permittivity insulator was subjected to Art surface treatment in an effort to increase the adhesion of subsequently evaporated Cu. Photoacoustic FTIR shows the loss of aromaticity and the formation of Si-H-n, where n = 2, 3. XPS evidence suggests that beam damage causes the formation of -Si-O-. and -Si-., as well as -C-. fragments; both -Si-O-. and -C-. react with evaporated Cu-o to form -Si-O-Cu and -C-Cu: these bonds to Cu are too weak to prevent lateral surface diffusion of the Cu to form clusters.